See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337155139 The Kirby Collection of Musical Instruments - The European Division Thesis · March 2018 DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.13412.53124 CITATIONS READS 0 62 1 author: Angelica Pinna Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien 1 PUBLICATION 0 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE All content following this page was uploaded by Angelica Pinna on 10 November 2019. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI MILANO Facoltà di Studi Umanistici Corso di laurea magistrale in Scienze della Musica e dello Spettacolo The Kirby Collection of Musical Instruments: the European Division Relatore Prof. Renato Meucci Tesi di laurea di Angelica Pinna matr. 877942 Correlatori Prof. Cesare Fertonani Prof. Michael Nixon Sessione invernale Anno accademico 2016-2017 2 Indice Introduzione .................................................................................................................................................... 3 PARTE I ............................................................................................................................................................ 7 Capitolo I - Il collezionista .......................................................................................................................... 9 Cenni biografici....................................................................................................................................... 9 La ricerca etnomusicologica ed etnografica ......................................................................................... 17 La ricerca storica .................................................................................................................................. 24 Capitolo II - La collezione ........................................................................................................................ 25 Il Museo degli strumenti musicali ......................................................................................................... 25 La Collezione “sonora” – I cilindri fonografici ................................................................................... 28 La Collezione “visiva” – Le Fotografie ................................................................................................ 29 Il Museo a Wits, Tassonomia ed Exhibition Concept ............................................................................ 30 Il trasferimento presso l’Africana Museum........................................................................................... 34 Capitolo III - La concezione di un catalogo per la Kirby Collection of Musical Instruments .................. 35 Capitolo IV - La collezione nel presente ................................................................................................... 39 PARTE II - CATALOGO ................................................................................................................................... 43 Introduzione al catalogo ........................................................................................................................ 45 Idiophones ............................................................................................................................................. 53 Membranophones .................................................................................................................................. 59 Chordophones........................................................................................................................................ 61 Aerophones ........................................................................................................................................... 76 Tavole........................................................................................................................................................... I Marchi .................................................................................................................................................... XIII Conclusioni ...................................................................................................................................................... I Bibliografia ................................................................................................................................................. 117 Sitografia ..................................................................................................................................................... 124 Indice dei nomi e degli strumenti ................................................................................................................ 127 Ringraziamenti ............................................................................................................................................ 133 1 2 Introduzione Il presente lavoro è il frutto di un periodo di ricerca svolto nell’autunno del 2017 presso la Kirby Collection of Musical Instruments, oggi conservata presso il South African College of Music, University of Cape Town (UCT), e registrata presso la South African Heritage Resources Agency.1 Percival Robson Kirby (1887-1970), di origini scozzesi e trasferitosi nell’Africa Meridionale nel 1914, fu musicista, musicologo, compositore, direttore d’orchestra, storico, conosciuto in tutto il mondo per i suoi studi sulla musica degli indigeni sud-africani. Durante una trentennale carriera di ricerca ed insegnamento presso la University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, dal 1921 al 1952, Kirby diede forma ad un’estesa e varia collezione, oggi nota come la Kirby Collection, che comprende fotografie, illustrazioni, note di campo, manoscritti, registrazioni su cilindri e strumenti musicali, e costituisce oggi un’inestimabile testimonianza della cultura materiale del Sud Africa pre-urbano.2 Il “museum” di strumenti musicali – come il suo proprietario era solito definirlo – comprende circa 650 esemplari ed è oggi comunemente riconosciuto come la più importante ed esaustiva collezione di strumenti musicali provenienti dall’Africa Meridionale. Esso ha il pregio di offrire una panoramica completa degli strumenti musicali sud-africani, ma ospita anche esemplari originari di altri continenti, costituendo una prospettiva privilegiata per l’individuazione di linee di influenza. L’obiettivo principale della ricerca è stato la stesura di un catalogo di un nucleo “minore” all’interno della collezione di Kirby, rappresentato da circa 70 strumenti di provenienza europea. Tale obiettivo è stato perseguito tenendo costantemente in considerazione il contesto rappresentato dalla collezione nella sua interezza. Quest’ultima è di fatti prevalentemente rivolta all’interesse etnografico ed etnomusicologico di Kirby, incentrato sugli strumenti della tradizione sud-africana, ed uno degli obiettivi è stato quello di appurare se gli strumenti europei furono scelti in virtù di una relazione più o meno evidente con quelli etnici, o se tale nucleo si presenta del tutto estraneo a un tale principio. Ai fini della redazione del catalogo, la “collezione europea” è stata suddivisa in sezioni, secondo il criterio di classificazione proposto da Curt Sachs e revisionato dal Consorzio Mimo.3 Tale sistema di classificazione, versatile in virtù del criterio classificatorio alla sua base, è oggi in uso nella maggior parte dei musei di strumenti musicali di tutto il mondo. Dopo una suddivisione preliminare in base al materiale responsabile della produzione del suono, ci si occupa dei singoli esemplari, per ognuno dei quali è stata redatta una scheda comprendente informazioni che pertengono all’analisi tecnologica e informazioni risultanti dall’analisi storica dell’oggetto. Il catalogo, che costituisce la PARTE II del presente lavoro, è preceduto da una PARTE I, che funge da introduzione generale sulla collezione, al fine di provvedere un inquadramento dell’oggetto di studio all’interno dell’attività di ricercatore, studioso e didatta del collezionista, nonché nel contesto più ampio delle teorie classificatorie del XX secolo applicate agli strumenti musicali. Tale prima parte si struttura intorno a quattro punti fondamentali: Il collezionista (Capitolo I), La collezione (Capitolo II), La 1 Nixon 2014: 195. Lobley 2015: 245. 3 MIMO Consortium 2011. 2 3 concezione di un catalogo per la Kirby Collection of Musical Instruments (Capitolo III) e La collezione nel presente (Capitolo IV). Il Capitolo I, profondamente debitore verso il libro autobiografico di Kirby, Wits End – An Unconventional Autobiography, 4 offre una panoramica dell’intensa vita, specie lavorativa, del collezionista. Senza la pretesa di dare un taglio etnomusicologico alla trattazione nel suo complesso, un paragrafo è interamente dedicato alla ricerca etnografica ed etnomusicologica in quanto parte preponderante dell’attività di Kirby, culminata nella pubblicazione del libro The Musical Instruments of the Native Races of South Africa (prima ed. 1934), che ha reso il suo autore noto in tutto il mondo. Vengono qui delineate le principali tappe di tale indagine ed esposte le conclusioni del pensiero di Kirby sulla musica dei Nativi, sempre con particolare riguardo per il ruolo che lo studio sugli strumenti musicali e l’attività collezionistica hanno avuto in tale area di interesse. Infine, si ricorda anche l’impegno del collezionista nelle indagini sulla storia dell’Africa Meridionale, campo di studio che lo appassionò in modo crescente dopo l’abbandono della ricerca sul campo. Il Capitolo II è dedicato alla collezione e ne espone primariamente le tappe dal punto di vista storico: dall’inizio dell’attività collezionistica di Kirby, allo stabilimento degli strumenti presso la University of the Witwatersrand, fino allo spostamento presso l’Africana Museum di Johannesburg, mentre si riserva la trattazione dell’acquisizione da parte della sede attuale al Capitolo IV. La collezione è in questo capitolo discussa nella sua interezza, e ne viene proposta una tripartizione ideale in Collezione di Strumenti musicali, Collezione “sonora” e Collezione “visiva”. Durante le sue ricerche sul campo, Kirby ha provveduto a documentare modalità esecutive e costruttive di molti dei suoi strumenti attraverso registrazioni sonore e fotografie. Le registrazioni – per lo meno quelle di maggior interesse per lo stesso Kirby – sembrano essere irrimediabilmente danneggiate e il loro contenuto sonoro perduto. Il materiale iconografico, invece, congiuntamente ad alcune pubblicazioni e manoscritti di Kirby, funge da fonte indispensabile per la ricostruzione e la discussione delle idee espositive e di classificazione del collezionista, così come per la verifica di un’eventuale corrispondenza di tali idee con la modalità effettiva di esposizione dei suoi strumenti musicali. Il capitolo III tratta dei vari progetti di catalogazione della sua collezione perseguiti da Kirby a partire dalla seconda metà degli anni ’40, alla compilazione del Catalogo del 1967 da parte di Margaret De Lange, e fino alla vagheggiata collaborazione con Jeremy Montagu al fine della stesura di un catalogo illustrato. Il capitolo IV, come accennato sopra, è riservato agli eventi concernenti la collezione successivi alla morte del proprietario, in cui figura di primo piano è la secondogenita del Prof. Kirby, Nan Parnell. L’enfasi è data in questo capitolo all’aspetto logistico e al lavoro curatoriale e di conservazione cui è stata sottoposta la collezione nell’ultimo trentennio. Le schede del catalogo sono introdotte da una breve premessa, scritta sia in italiano che in inglese, che ha lo scopo di facilitarne la consultazione attraverso una “guida alle schede” e la specificazione dei criteri assunti per la redazione. Si incoraggia la consultazione delle schede congiuntamente alle dodici 4 Kirby 1967. 4 tavole contenenti le fotografie di ogni oggetto catalogato, che si trovano in coda al catalogo, seguite a loro volta da due ulteriori tavole che riportano le fotografie dei marchi presenti nella collezione. Il catalogo vero e proprio è stato scritto in lingua inglese, da una parte per l’urgenza di produrre qualcosa che potesse essere di utilità immediata per il “museo”, d’altra parte per la necessità di un confronto costante con il curatore attuale della collezione, il Prof. Michael Nixon. Parallelamente alle ricerche volte alla stesura vera e propria della tesi, è stato infatti svolto un lavoro costante di segnalazione di errori e di mancanza di informazioni, nonché di correzione e integrazione informativa, su materiali che costituiscono fonti primarie per il lavoro curatoriale e catalografico, quali: il primo e unico catalogo redatto della collezione (De Lange 1967); il database online disponibile sul sito della UCT;5 il file excel compilato dall’attuale curatore e contenente un inventario, ancora in fase di completamento;6 il registro dell’Africana Museum di Johannesburg;7 le schede espositive disponibili presso la collezione a supporto dei visitatori. 8 Oltre queste fonti, sono stati di eccezionale ausilio per la redazione delle schede catalografiche anche le annotazioni al catalogo De Lange di Jeremy Montagu (1969), integrate da commenti da lui riferiti personalmente a Michael Nixon (2008) ed appunti sporadici – e abbastanza lacunosi – scritti dai conservatori e costruttori intervenuti su alcuni strumenti. Altre fonti fondamentali che è bene menzionare esplicitamente sono costituite dal materiale epistolare di Percival Kirby conservato presso la sezione Manuscripts & Archives della UCT, così come dalla corrispondenza raccolta presso privati e in vari archivi sparsi per il Paese e riprodotta dal Prof. Michael Nixon e gentilmente resa da lui disponibile ai fini della presente ricerca, corrispondenza che nella sua totalità arriva a coprire un arco temporale compreso tra il 1930 e il 1969; le due grandi pubblicazioni dello stesso Kirby, la già citata autobiografia e il libro sugli strumenti dei Nativi sud-africani nelle sue varie edizioni; gli articoli di giornale di altri autori riguardanti le sue attività di ricerca, didattica, etc. e che Kirby ebbe cura di conservare; gli articoli e ulteriori pubblicazioni di Kirby disponibili presso gli Archivi UCT. Inoltre, l’orientamento nel tanto vasto quanto differenziato materiale depositato presso la sezione Manuscripts & Archives è stato facilitato, almeno per quanto concerne il materiale edito, dalla consultazione del volume bibliografico dei lavori di Kirby pubblicato da Valerie Bryer (1965). Per concludere, è necessaria una premessa terminologica. Il termine Sud Africa, così come l’aggettivo sud-africano, viene utilizzato in questa sede in un’accezione geografica e non politica, e secondo la definizione che Kirby dà nella prefazione del suo The Musical Instruments of the Native Races of South Africa, come “that portion of the Continent which lies south of latitude 22”, o, più semplicemente, a sud del fiume Limpopo.9 5 UCT Libraries n.d. Nixon, Inventory, 2017. 7 Africana Museum 1981. 8 Queste consistono nell’indicazione sintetica di dati di provenienza, nomenclatura e misure basilari. 9 Kirby 1968: vii. 6 5 6 PARTE I Cartina storica del Sud Africa alla fine degli anni 1960 “General Distribution of the Native Races of South Africa at the present time ” drawed by Miss Dora Kotzé, tratta da Kirby, The Musical Instruments of the Native Races of South Africa, Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, 2a ed., 1968. 7 8 Capitolo I - Il collezionista Cenni biografici Nel 1967, anno della compilazione e pubblicazione del Catalogue of the Musical Instruments in the Collection of Professor Percival R. Kirby (De Lange 1967), la casa editrice di Howard Timmins, con sede a Città del Capo, pubblicò l’autobiografia dal titolo Wits End – An Unconventional Autobiography, dell’allora ottantenne “Professor Emeritus” Percival Kirby. Descritto da molti come l’uomo più influente nello sviluppo della musica sudafricana, classica e indigena,10 è stato senza dubbio una figura di primo piano nel panorama della musicologia sudafricana e musicologia comparativa, oltre che della etno-organologia. Conosciuto in tutto il mondo per i suoi studi sulla musica degli indigeni sud-africani, fu anche flautista e timpanista, compositore, direttore di orchestra, storico, conduttore radiofonico, divulgatore della musica occidentale, e fondatore della cattedra di Musica e Storia della Musica presso la University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Wits End viene presentato da Kirby nella prefazione come la soddisfazione di una richiesta di molti amici di scrivere le sue memorie.11 Nel 1969 rivela a Jeremy Montagu in una lettera datata 14 aprile: “I actually wrote it for my children and their families, and did it in a couple of months.” In un libro di otto capitoli “tematici”, Kirby racconta con ironia e lucidità le sue “personal activities and the people and places that [he] had met and seen in both Europe and South Africa”,12 senza mancare di dar spazio ad aneddoti che – sebbene talvolta suscitino il dubbio sull’infallibilità della sua memoria – sono in grado di far sorridere anche il lettore non musicista. Dagli anni della giovinezza in Inghilterra narrati in ordine cronologico, al trasferimento in Sud Africa che coincide con l’inizio delle sue ricerche in campo etnografico, al suo impegno con il mondo accademico e non solo, fino al suo pensionamento ed oltre, Kirby racconta puntualmente le vicende della propria carriera, ma anche della sua vita privata, servendosi di un libretto di appuntamenti da lui compilato dal 1937 in poi.13 Percival Robson Kirby nacque ad Aberdeen, città scozzese situata tra le foci di due fiumi – il cui nome significa letteralmente “tra il Dee e il Don” – il 17 aprile 1887, “the year of Queen Victoria’s Jubilee.”14 Figlio di un musicista del Lancashire, John Kirby, organista, insegnante di musica presso il Church of Scotland Training College for Teachers, e direttore dell’Aberdeen Madrigal Choir e dell’Aberdeen Choral Union e della mezzo-soprano Jeannie Robson, insegnante scozzese e discreta pianista, Percival Kirby crebbe in un ambiente intellettuale, e in particolare musicale, stimolante. La madre si occupò primariamente della sua educazione, e gli insegnò per prima il canto, oltre a dargli nozioni di matematica e inglese. Così, all’età di soli quattro anni e mezzo, Percival entrò alla Grammar School, più piccolo di due anni rispetto alla maggior parte dei suoi compagni,15 e passò alla Central Higher Grade School nel 1902. Seguendo il padre durante i suoi impegni con l’Aberdeen Choral Union insieme alla sorella più giovane di due anni, Percival Kirby ebbe l’opportunità di assistere a diversi concerti, in particolare quelli dell’orchestra scozzese di Glasgow, nell’ambito dei quali, per la prima volta, conobbe alcuni tra i più 10 Van der Mescht 2002: 160. Kirby 1967: 11. 12 Ibid. 13 Ibid. 14 Kirby 1967: 15. 15 Kirby 1967: 16-7. 11 9 grandi lavori orchestrali, tra cui sinfonie di Beethoven e varie ouverture, suite e poemi sinfonici, dei quali era solito approfondire la propria conoscenza a casa, sulle partiture complete del padre.16 Il suo primo strumento fu un flagioletto: having acquired a brass “cylinder flageolet” at a relatively tender age, I not only taught myself the ordinary fingering of it, but also succeeded in eliciting from it a compass of two-and-a-half octaves chromatic passages with considerable fluency. 17 Visti i rapidi progressi mostrati su tale strumento, gli venne regalato un violino di taglia standard per il suo settimo compleanno, che si rivelò essere, a detta sua, un “grave errore dei suoi genitori,” in quanto le dimensioni dello strumento, inadatte ad un bambino di quell’età, lo portarono ad abbandonare le lezioni.18 Tornato al flagioletto, di cui acquistò diverse taglie, iniziò ad esercitarsi sull’uso delle chiavi con un ottavino datogli in prestito. A quel punto, il padre gli comprò uno strumento tutto suo: “an excellent specimen of its class, being of the usual eight-keyed variety with conical bore and my father bought it for me […] at a cost of one pound.19 I primi anni di studi musicali continuarono a svolgersi da autodidatta, attraverso la lettura e lo studio di tutti gli spartiti disponibili in casa, nella libreria del padre. La sua prima esperienza orchestrale avvenne attraverso la finestra della sua stanza, dalla quale poteva vedere e sentire un settetto (violino, violoncello, contrabbasso, flauto, clarinetto, cornetta e piano) guidato dal suonatore di cornetta Mr. Walter Stavert, che si esercitava nella stanza di una palazzina di fronte a casa sua: whenever I heard this ensemble strike up a number the flute part of which I happened to have, I stuck up my music stand in a corner of my window, got out my flute, and joined in. I could hear them, but they could not hear me. This was my first introduction to orchestral playing, and very valuable it proved to be.20 Agli anni della giovinezza in Gran Bretagna risale anche la sua prima esperienza nella costruzione di uno strumento: interessatosi ai tamburi e, non potendone acquistare uno, il giovane Kirby realizzò due timpani a partire da due sgabelli circolari il cui sedile in bambù sostituì con sottile compensato, ottenendo due strumenti che avevano approssimatamente una quarta di intonazione di differenza. I bastoni vennero realizzati da una coppia di canne leggere ottenute da un costruttore di cestini, con teste fatte a partire da un vecchio cappello di feltro e due bottoni di cappotto, ad imitazione di quelli visti nei cataloghi e nelle mani di Willem Gezink, timpanista della Scottish Orchestra. Dopodiché, il set fu completato da una scatola di formaggio convertita in una sorta di grancassa e da due vecchi tamburelli che andarono a formare un rullante, la cui “pelle” era ricavata da un tappeto in pelle di cervo rasato con “amorevole cura”. Infine, le bacchette per il rullante vennero intagliate da uno scatolone. Tutto ciò fu realizzato con il solo aiuto di un martello, un vecchio coltello da pane, un coltellino ed un paio di pinze.21 Dopo il successo ottenuto durante la partecipazione come secondo flauto in un’esecuzione della Creazione di Haydn data dalla locale Tonic Sol-fa Choral Society, gli fu comprato un moderno flauto cilindrico basato sul sistema Boehm. In quegli anni si candidò per suonare come secondo flauto nell’orchestra composta sia da professionisti che dilettanti e condotta da Stavert, per la performance del Messiah di Händel dell’Aberdeen Choral Union. Alla fine però, si propose anche come timpanista, pur senza aver mai suonato su timpani veri. Tuttavia, suo padre riuscì a farlo esercitare su un paio di timpani 16 Kirby 1967: 17-8. Kirby 1967: 22. 18 Ibid. 19 Kirby 1967: 23. 20 Kirby 1967: 24. 21 Ibid. 17 10 che erano stati usati anni prima quando conduceva l’Aberdeen Orchestral Society e Percival si poté unire all’orchestra. Successivamente Kirby scoprirà che si trattava di pezzi storici che avrebbero dovuto essere preservati, e completamente obsoleti per quei tempi dal punto di vista orchestrale: They were of colossal size, the smaller being 30 inches in diameter and the larger 33 inches; and they were tuned respectively by ten and eleven screws which had to be turned by a vast iron crowbar. Many years later, when it was too late to save them, I discovered that these instruments were the precise counterparts of the famous Royal Artillery drums, replicas of which are preserved in the Rotunda at Woolwich. Those instruments were mounted upon a gun-carriage, on which the performer also sat, and in which he used to be drawn in state in front of his regiment. And since the original drums dated from the Battle of Blenheim, it would appear that the Aberdeen instruments were of considerable antiquity. Because of their immense size it was impossible to tune them higher than E flat and B flat…22 Da questo momento in poi, Kirby fu ingaggiato diverse volte come timpanista. Dal 1907 Percival frequentò per tre anni il Church of Scotland Training College per insegnanti e all’Aberdeen Training Centre ottenne il certificato di insegnamento. Nel frattempo, il padre morì nel 1905, lasciando molti debiti che comportarono la vendita di arredi e della sua libreria, da cui vennero però salvati un pianoforte a coda Chappell ed alcuni libri di musica. Divenne così fondamentale per Percival contribuire al reddito familiare suonando flauto e ottavino in orchestre e bande, tra cui la banda militare del Highland Divisional Royal Engineers di cui diventò un membro.23 Condusse anche due orchestre amatoriali: la Aberdeen Amateur String Orchestra e quella del Gordon Memorial Institute. Negli stessi anni si iscrisse all’Università di Aberdeen come studente di arte, ricevendo il Master of Arts nel 1910, con biologia e filosofia come principali materie. Nel settembre 1910 iniziò la sua formazione presso il Royal College of Music (RCM) di Londra dove restò fino al dicembre 1913. 24 Partecipò fin dal primo anno come timpanista nell’orchestra sotto la direzione di Charles Villiers Stanford, entrandovi dopo un test, prima di quanto fosse solitamente concesso agli studenti. Fu anche un deputy25 come timpanista, flautista, suonatore di tamburi e cembali e suonò saltuariamente per i cinema. Al RCM, Kirby, ventitreenne all’epoca dell’iscrizione, era più grande della media degli altri studenti del primo anno,26 e, avendo anche una più solida preparazione teorica, ottenne di essere dispensato dalla frequentazione di alcune classi obbligatorie. Presso il RCM si specializzò in composizione, flauto e tamburi, con pianoforte come secondo strumento ed analisi e organo come discipline secondarie.27 Durante quegli anni, Stanford, suo mentore nella classe di composizione, gli propose di scrivere un libro sui timpani, introducendolo a Lord Rayleigh, matematico e fisico che aveva pubblicato i risultati di alcuni esperimenti fatti su tali strumenti. Il libro fu poi scritto solo nel 1930 su richiesta della Oxford University Press.28 Al termine degli studi, sebbene avesse davanti a sé una possibile carriera orchestrale, e, essendosi distinto nella classe di composizione presso il RCM, avesse la possibilità di prendere la cattedra di tale disciplina, Kirby decise di candidarsi per un posto come “Music Organiser” del Dipartimento 22 Kirby 1967: 26. Malan, “Kirby” in Malan 1984, pp. 103. 24 Van der Mescht 2002: 160. 25 Deputy era il termine con cui venivano chiamati i sostituti occasionali di “theatre players” quando questi ultimi venivano convocati come membri d’orchestra per un concerto importante a Londra. 26 Van der Mescht 2002:163-70. 27 Van der Mescht 2002: 164. 28 Kirby 1930b. 23 11 dell’Istruzione del Natal, all’epoca Colonia inglese.29 Nel prendere tale decisione, Kirby fu attratto in parte dal salario offerto30 (“three time as much as I could have earned as an ordinary school-master, and at least double what I was likely to earn in London as an orchestral player”),31 in parte dal paesaggio della regione del Natal, che immaginava essere “greater than the whole Scotland.” 32 Dopo la comunicazione dell’ottenimento del lavoro, Kirby continuò per un breve periodo a studiare con Stanford e visitò diversi istituti scolastici su consiglio delle autorità del RCM, fino a quando, nel gennaio del 1914, si imbarcò alla volta della Repubblica Sudafricana: “I received from the office of the High Commissioner a second class ticket from Southampton to Durban on the Briton, one of the older ships of the Union-Castle Line…”33 A Pietermaritzburg, svolse per sette anni l’attività di ispettore, responsabile dell’educazione musicale nella regione del Natal di bambini, studenti e aspiranti insegnanti, appartenenti alle categorie razziali dei Coloured, Indian e Black oltre che dei White.34 Questo, racconta, gli farà rivalutare le proprie idee sull’educazione in generale, specie quella musicale, e a realizzare che “it was wrong to talk about music and right to talk about musics.”35 Tale incarico gli conferiva tra l’altro carta bianca nella messa a punto dei piani di studio e nell’organizzazione dell’istruzione musicale “nella maniera che avrebbe ritenuto più adeguata.”36 Si tratta di anni cruciali per la vita professionale e privata di Kirby: il suo arrivo nel Natal segna infatti l’inizio della sua carriera accademica, in quanto comincia ad insegnare presso il Government Training College, ma anche delle sue ricerche e interesse in campo etnomusicologico-etnografico (cfr. paragrafo dedicato). Nel 1916, inoltre, sposa Miss Maud Inchbold a Pietermaritzburg, dalla quale avrà il primo figlio, John, nel 1917 e la secondogenita, Nan (successivamente in Parnell) nel 1920. Kirby si distinse nell’insegnamento per l’inserimento di elementi di novità nell’educazione musicale. In “My last Years in Natal” 37 ricorda una serie di “Extension Lectures” sul Rinascimento organizzate nell’inverno del 1917 dal Council of the Durban Technical College, nell’ambito delle quali si servì di illustrazioni visive e sonore, ricorrendo a diapositive, performance dal vivo e dischi per grammofono, e facendo di quell’occasione la prima volta in Sud Africa in cui vennero usate tali registrazioni a supporto di lezioni pubbliche.38 All’inizio del 1921, Kirby fu convocato a Pietermaritzburg dal Sopraintendente dell’Educazione il quale gli propose un posto come Professore di Musica ad interim presso il University College di Johannesburg.39 Dopo una breve esitazione, Kirby si trasferì nel “Rand”, lasciando la sua famiglia nel Natal. Durante i mesi da precario, fu sistemato in un piccolo studio – il quale doveva servire anche da 29 Natal fu una provincia della Repubblica Sudafricana (1910-1994) con capitale Pietermaritzburg, oggi unificata con il bantustan del KwaZulu nella KwaZulu-Natal. 30 Scoprirà poi con rammarico che il costo di abbigliamento, libri e partiture era di gran lunga superiore rispetto all’Europa, in quanto si vigeva il “Colonial Price” (Kirby 1967: 83). 31 Kirby 1967: 78. 32 Ibid. 33 Kirby 1967: 80. 34 Coloured, Indian, Black e White furono le classi razziali riconosciute dal Population Registration Act, 1950 ed in cui tutta la popolazione sudafricana fu classificata all’epoca dell’apartheid in base all’apparenza fisica, all’ascendenza, allo stato socioeconomico e allo stile di vita culturale. 35 Malan 1984: 103. 36 Kirby 1967: 77-8. 37 Kirby 1967: 95-105. 38 Kirby 1967: 97. 39 Kirby 1967: 109. 12 aula per le sue lezioni – situato al piano terra dell’edificio principale su Eloff Street, che ricorda in tal modo: [This room] contained nothing at all at first, but before long a small knee-hole desk and a chair were installed, and also a few desks and chairs for my students. After asking for them, I was next provided with an old easel and a blackboard about 3’ by 2’, and a very small bookcase. I managed to convince the authorities that it was necessary for me to have lines painted on the blackboard, so that music could be easily written upon it, and this was eventually done. […] I had brought a number of my own books and gramophone records with me from Natal, and also my own gramophone.40 Kirby si rese subito conto delle differenze di standard del sistema educativo musicale del College rispetto agli istituti equivalenti in Inghilterra, e, non appena si troverà in una posizione più autorevole, si impegnerà a sanare tale divario: A request for a piano resulted in a cheap American upright instrument being hired by the month, but as I was expected to be in occupation for only four months, I did not make a fuss… 41 Al suo arrivo presso l’istituzione di Johannesburg gli venne chiesto di realizzare una piccola propaganda per il suo dipartimento. Inizialmente si trattò di annunci sul giornale che portarono ad un leggero incremento di studenti “occasionali” o part-time, i quali però non erano interessati all’ottenimento del titolo. Ancora una volta, Kirby si dimostrò un innovatore, proponendo e organizzando una serie di “popular lectures” su “vari aspetti della musica”, attirando un’audience formata non solo da studenti e potenziali studenti, ma anche da insegnanti di musica e colleghi del College Council. Ma la principale novità stava nella modalità con cui le lezioni erano condotte e nei mezzi utilizzati per illustrare gli argomenti: Apart from the pianoforte, I had my gramophone, and also a lantern by means of which I could project on a screen analyses of works being studied, as well as pictures of instruments and scenes from operas.42 Successivamente il Direttore gli chiese di tenere una lezione pubblica inaugurale. Anche questa volta, Kirby scelse di esporre il tema scelto, la Russia e la nascita dell’opera nazionale, avvalendosi di mezzi alternativi: a series of lantern slides of scenes from several little-known Russian operas, as well as portraits of their composers, and with these and the unusual gramophone recordings that I had brought with me I was able to introduce to the large audience a number of works which had till then been to them mere names.43 Il successo fu tale che i membri della comunità russa che vi assistettero lo invitarono a tenere la stessa lezione in altre città del Paese. Subito dopo tale evento, venne offerta a Kirby la cattedra di Musica e Storia della Musica, che accettò.44 Quando si trovò a fare i conti con il programma steso dai suoi predecessori e con la lacunosa preparazione degli studenti, Kirby si rese conto che il modello educativo seguito tendeva a dare priorità all’esecuzione e che la preparazione teorica dei suoi studenti era quasi elementare, essendo contrappunto 40 Kirby 1967: 116. Ibid. 42 Kirby 1967: 118. 43 Kirby 1967: 119. 44 Nel frattempo decise con la moglie che lei e i figli sarebbero andati in Inghilterra, dove lui li avrebbe rivisti alla fine dell’anno. (Kirby 1967: 119-20). In occasione del suo ritorno in Inghilterra intraprese un viaggio con la moglie in Germania e Austria, per poi imbarcarsi con la famiglia al completo per il Sudafrica. (Kirby 1967: 120-1). Vi tornerà ancora una volta nel 1923, dopo la chiusura dell’anno accademico (Kirby 1967: 125-30). 41 13 ed armonia totalmente trascurati. La soluzione ovvia per lui era quella di mettere a punto un corso di studi che fosse in linea con quello delle università britanniche, e che includesse armonia, contrappunto, estetica musicale e storia e letteratura musicali. Tuttavia, sebbene fosse già nella posizione per prendere parte all’incontro annuale del Senato della University of South Africa, in seno al quale tali decisioni venivano prese, dovette aspettare l’anno successivo per avanzare la sua proposta di riforma. Nato nel 1921, il Dipartimento di Musica del University College di Johannesburg presentò nel 1922 un programma di studi diverso e più solido nella preparazione teorica e storica dei suoi iscritti, i quali dovevano sottomettersi all’esaminazione di Kirby in persona, Capo del Dipartimento, per poter essere ammessi; tuttavia il programma non era ancora completamente soddisfacente per Kirby, il quale auspicava qualcosa di “più scientifico”.45 Il 1 marzo 1923 il College diventò un’università indipendente con il nome di University of the Witwatersrand, e quindi si sottrasse al controllo del Senate of the University of South Africa, cosicchè Kirby ebbe maggiore libertà di intervento.46 Per l’occasione della cerimonia inaugurale dell’Università Kirby rientrò nei panni di compositore e scrisse – ispirandosi ad una composizione musicata da suo padre nel 1896 per l’Università di Aberdeen ed intitolata “Canticum in Almam Matrem Abredonensem”– quello che poi sarà considerato l’inno istituzionale, su versi di H. J. Van der Brugge, “Stans in monte Alma Mater”, tradotti dall’autore anche in inglese ed Afrikaans ed adattati alla musica. Nel 1925 Kirby introdusse “Practical Performance” all’interno dei corsi universitari e nel 1930 ottenne che il suo dipartimento cambiasse il nome in “Department of Music and History of Music”.47 Durante le sue attività di insegnamento, il Professor Kirby contribuì alla vita sociale di Johannesburg e Cape Town come musicista, compositore, direttore d’orchestra,48 scenografo e consulente teatrale. A partire dal 1922, si fece responsabile di una serie di produzioni di “musico-dramatic works” che andarono avanti per trent’anni presso l’Università, fondando anche la “University Players”, una regolare Società drammatica universitaria.49 Nei primi anni Kirby stesso partecipò come orchestrale; si occupò inoltre in prima persona di strumentare e condurre la messa in scena di alcune opere poco conosciute, per le quali preparava gli studenti, conduceva l’orchestra e per la maggior parte di esse curò la scenografia. Nell’ambito di questi allestimenti, fu inoltre il primo ad usare il ciclorama in Sud Africa.50 Kirby fu molto impegnato anche al di fuori della scena universitaria. Nel 1927 fu co-fondatore e codirettore della Johannesburg Symphony Orchestra, un’orchestra formata da membri della Musicians’ Union sul modello cooperativo ed auto-gestionale della London Symphony Orchestra.51 In quel periodo Kirby condusse diversi concerti per la Johannesburg Musical Society52 e diresse la University Orchestra fino al 1952.53 Suonò e condusse anche per l’Orchestra comunale e durante la Grand Season of Opera a Johannesburg fu direttore di tre dei lavori presentati, tra cui una nuova traduzione in inglese del “Don Pasquale” donizettiano scritta da lui. 45 Kirby 1967: 132. Kirby 1967: 133. 47 Kirby 1967: 154. 48 Condusse la Cape Town Orchestra per l’esecuzione delle sue Symphonic Variations a Johannesburg nel maggio 1921 e poco dopo a Durban, prima volta nella regione di Natal (Kirby 1967: 122-5). 49 Kirby 1967: 185. 50 Kirby 1967: 192-205. 51 Kirby 1967: 279-80. 52 Kirby 1967: 285-6. 53 Kirby 1967: 289. 46 14 Nel 1925 divenne membro della Broadcasting Board e da quell’anno partecipò spesso come speaker o conduttore alle trasmissioni della South African Broadcasting Corporation e della British Broadcasting Corporation.54 Negli anni di Johannesburg, Kirby visitò l’Europa saltuariamente. Nel 1928 accompagnò degli studenti in un viaggio nel Vecchio Continente durante il quale visitarono Inghilterra, Germania, Francia ed Ungheria. Nel 1933, di ritorno dall’Inghilterra, si fermò in Egitto, dove visitò il Royal Egyptian Museum e fu il primo a suonare le due trombe di Tutankhamen.55 Nel 1936 ripeté l’esperienza con gli studenti, cui presero parte anche sua moglie in veste di seconda accompagnatrice e i due figli. Fu in tale occasione che, probabilmente per la prima volta, Kirby visitò l’Italia. Arrivato a Torino, il gruppo fu portato da una guida a Milano, dove assistette ad una performance di Madame Sans-Gêne di Giordano. Successivamente si recarono a Firenze, Roma e Napoli, dove assistettero a un allestimento del Nabucco, per poi visitare Pompei, il Vesuvio, Venezia e spostarsi in Germania, a Monaco di Baviera, in tempo per una messa in scena del The Flying Dutchman wagneriano. Le tappe successive furono Norimberga, Dresda, Berlino, Colonia e Parigi, dove ascoltarono all’Opéra-Comique un revival della Mireille di Charles Gounod, opera particolarmente amata da Kirby.56 Spesso e volentieri, tali viaggi oltremare costituirono per Kirby un’occasione di diffondere la conoscenza delle pratiche musicali dei Nativi africani oggetto dei suoi studi, ma anche per gli Europei di entrare in contatto con argomenti poco o per nulla conosciuti. Questo accadde anche in Italia nel luglio del 1937, quando Kirby vi tornò per far visita alla moglie e alla figlia, le quali avevano passato un anno a Perugia per imparare la lingua locale. A Roma, il Prof. Kirby fu invitato a tenere una lezione al Museo Coloniale e alla Regia Accademia di Santa Cecilia, con l’ausilio di grammofoni: [While] in Rome [..] I was invited to give a lecture on African music at the Colonial Museum, my talk being translated sentence by sentence. So interesting did the promoters find it (for it seems to have been the first “ethnomusicological” lecture to be delivered in Italy) that I was asked to repeat it at the great Conservatoire of St. Cecilia. 57 L’entusiasmo fu tale che a Kirby fu chiesto di portarne una versione “condensata” alla principale stazione radiofonica a Roma: …and this was also very successful. But I had to blush when I read the advanced notice of my broadcast in a leading Roman evening newspaper, in which I was dubbed a distinguished explorer, and my name coupled with that of Livingstone!58 Ben presto il Professor Kirby diventò una figura molto conosciuta come accademico, intellettuale, musicista e attivo membro di molte associazioni professionali, nelle quali ricoprì diversi incarichi di prestigio, e ricevette molteplici riconoscimenti. Nell’aprile del 1924 ricevette notizia da Hugh Allen, direttore del RCM e professore di Musica all’Università di Oxford, di essere stato nominato membro del RCM da “His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, President”.59 Nel 1926 entrò a far parte della South African Association for the Advancement of Science (SAAAS). Durante il 1928 fu probabilmente il primo musicista professionista a ricoprire il ruolo di Preside della Facoltà di Arti.60 Nel 1931 ricevette il dottorato in Letteratura con una tesi intitolata “Literary Contributions to the Study of Music”.61 Nel 54 Kirby 1967: 206-17. Kirby 1967: 239-40. 56 Kirby 1967: 164. 57 Kirby 1967: 215. 58 Ibid. 59 Kirby 1967: 141. 60 Kirby 1967: 151. 61 Bryer 1965: 2. 55 15 1935, 1936, 1954 fu Presidente della Sezione E della SAAAS, la quale si occupava di Antropologia, Etnologia, Archeologia, Filologia e Sociologia dei Nativi.62 Nel 1937 fu eletto membro della Royal Society of Edinburgh e del Royal Antropological Institute di Londra. Nel 1938 ricevette la South African Medal dalla SAAAS per le notevoli ricerche scientifiche da lui condotte.63 Nel 1946 divenne membro del Major Academic Developments Committee 64 e Consulente musicale del Johannesburg City Council. Nel 1951 la University of South Africa lo nominò membro del suo Senato e nello stesso anno il Ministro dell’Educazione, delle Arti e della Scienza lo inserì nel National Committee for the Advancement of Arts.65 Dopo trentuno anni di attività, Kirby andò in pensione il 31 dicembre 1952. 66 Negli anni del pensionamento a Grahamstown, Kirby continuò a tenere saltuariamente delle lezioni, e.g. in Rhodesia, a Rhodes, a Cape Town; continuò anche a recarsi ai congressi annuali delle associazioni di cui faceva parte (South African Museums Association (SAMA), SAAAS). Nel 1952, 1958 e 1964 fu eletto Presidente della SAMA. Nel 1953 gli venne conferita la Medaglia dell’incoronazione di Elisabetta II. Nel 1955 venne nominato Professor Emeritus dall’Università di Witwatersrand. Tornò in Europa nel 1955 per il May Musical Festival di Praga. Durante il viaggio si fermò ad Amsterdam dove incontrò il Dr. Kunst con cui intratteneva una corrispondenza e visitò the celebrated Tropen Museum, in which is kept the great collection of Indonesian musical instruments of which he was in charge. A couple of days later I gave a lecture there on African Music, demonstrating the principles governing Bantu musical instruments upon extemporised apparatus which I manufactured in the Museum laboratories. 67 Nello stesso anno tornò in orchestra come flautista in due occasioni, per la performance del Messiah di Händel e dell’ouverture Roman Carnival di Berlioz, e quella della Sinfonia Italiana di Mendelssohn con l’Orchestra di Cape Town;68 l’anno seguente a Port Elizabeth ai timpani per suonare il Requiem di Mozart.69 Nel 1958 condusse la Cape Town Municipal Orchestra per un evento.70 Nello stesso anno partecipò al Settimo Congresso della International Musicological Society tenutosi a Colonia, della quale ricorda la visita allo Studio di musica elettronica della Westdeutscher Rundfunk come l’attività più originale ed entusiasmante cui prese parte.71 Partecipò inoltre ad un simposio sulla musica africana con un paper intitolato “Physical Phenomenta which appear to have determined the Bases and Development of an Harmonic Sense among Bushmen, Hottentots and Bantu as I have observed them in Southern Africa”, illustrato da dimostrazioni pratiche su riproduzioni di strumenti musicali africani.72 Nel ’57, in occasione del suo settantesimo compleanno, condusse la SABC Orchestra in un’esecuzione di due delle sue composizioni, l’ouverture cinese The Willow Pattern e le Variazioni sinfoniche su “The 62 Ibid. Bryer 1965: 3. 64 Kirby 1967: 171. 65 Kirby 1967: 175. 66 Kirby 1967: 313. Per gli anni a venire i coniugi Kirby avevano acquistato un cottage a Morgan Bay. Sulla strada per la nuova abitazione ebbero un incidente, in cui Percival Kirby subì dei danni ai tendini di entrambe le mani, con la conseguenza di un indebolimento della presa permanente. Nel 1953 la coppia si trasferì nella casa di Grahamstown, che chiamò “Wits End” (Kirby 1967: 314-8). 67 Kirby 1967: 329. 68 Kirby 1967: 330. 69 Kirby 1967: 331. 70 Kirby 1967: 334. 71 Kirby 1967: 335. 72 Questo paper fu poi pubblicato nel 1959 in Bericht über den Siebenten Internationalen Musikwissenschaftlichen Kongress, Koeln, 1958 (Kirby 1967: 334-38). 63 16 Maid of Amsterdam”. Nel 1959 fu pubblicata un’edizione della partitura dell’ouverture del Guglielmo Tell e nel 1960 una dell’ouverture de Le Siège de Corinthe, entrambe curate da lui. Verso la fine del 1963 collaborò con la State Film Division per la produzione di un phonofilm a colori di 15 minuti ad uso delle scuole, dal titolo “Professor Kirby (Bantu Music)”. 73 Nel 1965 gli venne conferito honoris causa il titolo di Dottore in Letteratura durante la cerimonia di laurea della Rhodes University, Grahamstown.74 Nello stesso anno fu nominato Direttore della SAMRO (South African Music Rights Organisation). 75 In occasione del suo ottantesimo compleanno venne organizzato un concerto commemorativo di alcune delle sue composizioni (15 aprile).76 Nel dicembre del 1969 ricevette il titolo onorario di Dottore in Musica. Il 7 febbraio 1970 il professor Kirby morì a Grahamstown all’età di quasi 83 anni, lasciando una grande eredità, materiale e intellettuale, unica nel suo genere. La ricerca etnomusicologica ed etnografica In più occasioni Percival Kirby, nel ricordare gli esordi della sua attività etnomusicologica, rende tributo ad Ernest Warren, direttore del Museo di Natal e professore di zoologia al Natal University College: [he] introduced [me] for the first time to the work of the great explorer-scientist, William John Burchell, showing me the famous coloured drawing of the Bushman performing upon the gorá. And then Warren gently suggested that perhaps I might find the time and the energy to follow up this subject, and write something about the music of the aborigines of South Africa.77 Considerato uno dei più grandi musicologi ed etnomusicologi sud-africani, Kirby si occupò della scomparsa delle pratiche culturali tradizionali delle popolazioni sud-africane. Quando arrivò all’Università del Witwatersrand fu incoraggiato dai suoi colleghi, in particolare dal prof. Dart, a condurre uno studio esauriente delle pratiche musicali degli indigeni dell’Africa Meridionale. Nell’arco di un decennio, dal 1923 al 1933, svolse tale attività di studio e ricerca e, con il sostegno finanziario del National Research Council, viaggiò per migliaia di chilometri a bordo della sua Ford T, intraprendendo almeno nove spedizioni speciali, integrate da viaggi più brevi, nelle zone abitate dai Nativi: nell’area conosciuta come Sekhukhuneland (Transvaal), nello Swaziland e in Botswana. Durante tali spedizioni fu ospitato dai capi tribù locali e non perse mai l’occasione di farsi insegnare le pratiche esecutive e le tecniche di realizzazione degli strumenti degli indigeni, allo stesso tempo iniziando la sua attività di collezionista di tali manufatti. Uno dei suoi primi coinvolgimenti in questo campo risale agli anni ’20 e fu la collaborazione con Clement C. Doke, ex missionario che all’epoca scriveva la sua tesi di dottorato sulla fonetica della lingua Zulu; Kirby lo assistette nello scrivere in notazione musicale i nove “tones” che Doke aveva individuato nella lingua. Tale tesi fu pubblicata nel ’27 e Kirby ricorda quella come l’occasione in cui trovò conferma ad un’ipotesi da lui concepita al suo arrivo nel Natal, ovvero che ci fosse un legame eccezionalmente stretto tra il discorso (“speech”) e il canto (“song”) Bantu, sebbene si potessero percepire i segni di un allentamento di tale legame rispetto al passato, specie dopo l’arrivo dei “bianchi”. Nel dicembre 1923 decise di visitare Pietermaritzburg per studiare e registrare diverse canzoni tribali 73 Bryer 1965: 7. Kirby 1967: 349. 75 Kirby 1967: 371. 76 Kirby 1967: 353. 77 Kirby 1947: 7, cit. Nixon 2014: 189-90. 74 17 antiche che erano ancora ricordate e tramandate da un gruppo di nativi che viveva nella valle Swartkop, fuori città: the three songs which I heard and recorded revealed to me that they had a very definite, though very elementary, design, and that they were based upon a pentatonic scale or “mode”. Moreover, they provided evidence of employment of rudimentary harmony, arising from primitive polyphony […which] was the result of parallelism between the different voice parts. 78 Tali asserzioni verranno poi riprese e approfondite in numerosi altri contributi, tra cui si può per il momento citare “Some Problems of Primitive Harmony and Polyphony, with Special Reference to Bantu Practice”.79 Qui Kirby afferma e argomenta per la prima volta le sue conclusioni riguardo le origini della polifonia e a sua volta dell’armonia presso i Bantu. Tali origini andavano secondo lui ricercate nella progressione parallela di parti (vocali) che derivano direttamente dal “tone” della lingua, sebbene questo fosse stato in un primo momento influenzato in maggior o minor grado dalle “serie armoniche”, attraverso l’invenzione di strumenti rudimentali a fiato o a corde, o dall’osservazione di fenomeni naturali che “esibivano” quelle serie. Nell’estate del 1930, accompagnato dal nipole Mr. Smithin J. Inchbold come assistente sul campo, Kirby si recò nel Northern Transvaal. Dopo una prima tappa a Pietersburg, dove sentì e registrò musica strumentale Thonga (Shangaan), si spostò a Thabina, per incontrare l’anziano capo tribù Muhlaba. Quando al suo arrivo Kirby scoprì che secondo le usanze dei Nativi avrebbe dovuto prendere un appuntamento un paio di giorni prima per incontrare il Capo, ottimizzò il tempo d’attesa dedicandosi all’ascolto e alla registrazione di alcune musiche eseguite da un piccolo gruppo Sotho del Transvaal che viveva nelle vicinanze. Alla notizia dell’arrivo del ricercatore, Muhlaba organizzò un incontro con i suoi migliori musicisti affinché si esibissero per l’ospite. Da questi, Kirby poté imparare molto, specie sulla costruzione e l’uso dei loro strumenti musicali. Fu qui, inoltre, che per la prima volta ebbe modo di sentire un gruppo di suonatori di reed-flutes.80 Le registrazioni dei canti tribali dei capi tribù raccolte durante questo viaggio consentirono a Kirby di portare avanti la sua riflessione sui movimenti paralleli delle voci, i quali si rivelarono essere impostati ad intervalli di quinte, “a sort of modern example of medieval diaphony though the intervals were not all fifths.” 81 Ed è a questo punto che l’esistenza di un principio di armonia si svela proprio in questi canti: If you try to sing in parallel fifths in a pentatonic scale you come to a point where no fifth exists. In its place you find a sixth; and if you sing in parallel at the interval of a fourth, you come to a point where no fourth exists, but a third does.82 In un articolo pubblicato nel 1930 nel Musical Quarterly,83 Kirby sostiene che lo “speech-tone” dei Bantu, oltre ad aver influenzato le loro melodie, abbia anche indirizzato il loro pensiero polifonico in una direzione analoga a quella del pensiero polifonico di altri popoli europei dell’era Cristiana. 84 Dall’analisi da lui svolta su molte canzoni tribali, e riproposta in questo articolo in forma ridotta, Kirby dimostra che delle scale approssimative di natura pentatonica erano alla base di molte melodie, e che le polifonie là presenti, come quelle degli ensemble vocali, erano il risultato del canto parallelo all’interno dei limiti di tali scale pentatoniche, o di scale derivate da esse, e l’intervallo delle parti parallele era 78 Kirby 1967: 222. in South African Journal of Science, 1926. Tale articolo comparve nel capitolo IV del nuovo volume introduttivo al The Oxford History of Music pubblicato nel 1929 (Kirby 1967: 223; Bryer 1965: 49). 80 Kirby 1967: 224-5. 81 Kirby 1932: 28-9. 82 Ibid. 83 Kirby 1930a. 84 Kirby 1930a: 406. 79 18 solitamente di una quarta o di una quinta. Secondo Kirby, tale canto parallelo era dovuto all’influenza dello “speech-tone”, fondamentale nelle lingue Bantu al punto che la diversa intonazione di una stessa parola ne poteva alterare il significato, anche se perfettamente pronunciata. Tale derivazione del canto parallelo significava dunque che esso potesse essere realizzato anche senza compiere alcuna scelta musicale, dal momento che la sua primaria funzione non era musicale. Nonostante ciò, si sarebbe comunque fatta sentire l’influenza dei suoni gravi delle “serie armoniche” in quanto si tratta dei suoni che sono facilmente ottenuti dagli strumenti a fiato e a corde primitivi, come quelli che ancora venivano realizzati e suonati dai musicisti africani. Proprio tali suoni gravi avrebbero secondo Kirby portato pian piano ad un senso armonico.85 Dunque, per tornare al paragone proposto nella prima citazione, il canto parallelo ad intervalli di quinte o quarte entro i limiti della scala pentatonica (come si trova in Africa) forzerebbe i cantanti a prendere coscienza di nuovi intervalli, la sesta e la terza, e questo porterebbe naturalmente ad una conoscenza armonica di intervalli al di fuori di quelli semplici, mentre il parallelismo entro i limiti della scala eptatonica, come nella polifonia europea medievale, rallenterebbe questa presa di coscienza.86 Kirby tornò nel Northern Transvaal dopo poco tempo dalla sua prima visita, ma a Sekukuniland, “the stronghold of the Pedi people.” Qui conobbe Mr. W. P. Barnard e grazie a lui non solo studiò gli strumenti musicali della popolazione, ma se ne procurò anche un discreto numero di eccellenti, alcuni dei quali abbastanza sconosciuti persino agli etnologi. Nel 1931 si recò con Mr. H. J, Dumbrell, Ispettore dell’Educazione del Bechuanaland e dello Swaziland in quei territori per sentire la musica delle varie tribù Tswana e riuscì ad ascoltare un gruppo di ventitré suonatori di reed-flute. Questo, ricorda Kirby nella sua autobiografia, fu particolarmente difficile poiché: the local missionaries regarded the reed-flute dance as particularly “heaten”, and although the ensemble had not been forgotten, performances always took place in some hidden spot, out of sight and earshot of both magistrate and missionary.87 Nello Swaziland incontrò il capo tribù Sobhuza II e discusse con lui della musica del suo popolo; studiò inoltre la tecnica dei vari strumenti musicali realizzati e suonati dalla popolazione, in particolare i loro “classici” strumenti a corde, i ligubu, “a large bow with a calabash resonator, now unfortunately obsolete.” 88 Molti anni dopo, Kirby scriverà a Sobhuza II ricordando che quella visita era stata particolarmente importante per lui, in quanto aveva avuto l’opportunità di ottenere le prove finali riguardo i principi fisici che governano la produzione sonora degli strumenti a corde sud-africani.89 La successiva spedizione avvenne nel luglio 1931, nel Venda, dove incontrò il Capo dell’omonima tribù, Tshivhase, Quest’ultimo convocò per l’occasione ben quindici ensemble di reed-flute da diversi villaggi, i quali eseguirono le loro tshikona, le danze nazionali accompagnate da questi strumenti, nelle quali gli uomini, ognuno con la sua singola canna (“pan-pipe”) che produce una sola nota, danzano in un grande cerchio con i tamburi al centro. Nello stesso viaggio, Kirby si fece insegnare a suonare qualche melodia con la mbila, ma non riuscì in questa occasione a portare con sé nessuno di questi strumenti, “as the mbila is the property of the tribe, and not of an individual.” 90 Tuttavia, poté commissionare la costruzione di uno di tali strumenti direttamente a colui che li faceva per i membri della tribù, 85 Ibid. Kirby 1930a: 407. 87 Kirby 1967: 226-7. 88 Kirby 1967: 228. 89 Lettera di Kirby a Chief Sobhuza II, 31 ottobre 1959. 90 Kirby 1967: 232. 86 19 solitamente in cambio di un bue o cinque pounds. Oltre alla mbila, Kirby riuscì a comprare un numero abbastanza consistente di strumenti musicali di diversi tipi, sia a corde, che a fiato e percussioni. Verso la fine del 1931, Kirby scrive “The Recognition and Practical Use of the Harmonics of Stretched Strings by the Bantu of South Africa” in cui prova definitivamente che la tecnica di tutti gli strumenti a corda degli indigeni Bantu del Sud Africa era basata sulle serie armoniche ed era completamente diversa da quelle delle altre razze, nelle quali solitamente erano usati solo i suoni fondamentali.91 Il 1932 vede Kirby impegnato in un’altra spedizione, questa volta a Bloemhof, dove abitavano alcuni dei superstiti Korana Hottentot. Questa volta la ricerca di Kirby e lo studio di strumenti musicali era mirata ad una verifica storica degli spostamenti di una tribù, quella degli Tswana. Sapeva infatti che tale gruppo etnico aveva acquisito dai Korana i reed-flute ed era convinto che i negros che avevano incontrato Vasco da Gama a Mossel Bay nel 1497 fossero di quella razza. Anche qui ottenne descrizioni di strumenti musicali e metodi di manifattura, incluso il famoso reed-flute (/adi) e potè registrare alcune canzoni degli indigeni. I risultati di tale spedizione furono pubblicati in Bantu Studies nel giugno 1932.92 La ricerca e lo studio meticoloso degli strumenti musicali e delle loro tecniche di esecuzione e costruzione riflette la potenzialità informativa che Kirby riconosceva in essi in quanto prodotti materiali di culture poco conosciute. Tale posizione è alla base del suo discorso presidenziale presentato al Congresso dei Musei nella Rhodesia del Sud nel 1964, con il titolo “The Migration of Races as demontrated by their Musical Spoor;”93 si tratta di uno studio accurato della storia ed evoluzione di alcuni strumenti musicali al fine di portare alla luce i movimenti migratori di vari gruppi etnici. Sulla migrazione delle “razze” Kirby aveva già scritto molto e tempo prima, sempre partendo dalla distribuzione e/o mutazione di strumenti musicali. Un articolo del 1932, “Musical Origins in the Light of the Musical Practices of Bushman, Hottentot and Bantu” persegue lo scopo di dimostrare gli spostamenti nel tempo delle tre tribù oggetto di studio a partire dagli arnesi utilizzati nella caccia e dai loro strumenti musicali. Un sunto della premessa con cui l’intervento si apre, definita da Kirby una “breve ed elementare lezione di geografia sud-africana dal punto di vista della distribuzione dei popoli nativi,” 94 permetterà qui di introdurre efficacemente tre dei gruppi etnici che più di tutti sono stati indagati da Kirby: 1) Il primo gruppo di “abitanti aborigeni” del Sud Africa ad essere descritto è quello dei Bushmen. Si tratta di una tribù nomade, che non coltiva ma vive di “ciò che le dà la terra”, e pratica la caccia. Alcuni erano artisti, famosi per le rock paintings, le quali vanno da un grado di semplicità estremo ad un livello di eccezionale elaboratezza. Le loro armi erano archi e frecce avvelenate, e zagaglie. 2) Gli Hottentots storicamente avrebbero seguito i Bushmen in Sud Africa. Furono visti da Vasco da Gama nel 1497, a Mossel Bay; le donne cavalcavano buoi da soma. Erano armati con zagaglie di legno d’ulivo con punte di corno temprato a fuoco; entro il 1595 avevano acquisito dal nord il ferro, la cui punta era ancora di corno temprato a fuoco, ma non avevano ancora archi, né frecce, né niente di simile. Entro il 1690 acquisirono dai Bushmen l’uso dell’arco e delle frecce, mentre la zagaglia restò la loro arma cerimoniale. 3) Bantu, un termine che significa di per sé molto poco ed è costituito da molte razze le cui lingue sono correlate. Si riconoscono due gruppi principali di Bantu nel Sud Africa: a) gli Zulu-Xhosa, abitanti della costa sud-est, che include anche gli Swazi, leggermente a nord della regione del Natal, e i Bantu a sud del Natal; e b) i Sotho-Chwana, che includono varie sottoculture, di cui la più consistente è rappresentata 91 pubblicato in Bantu Studies a Marzo, 1932. Kirby 1967: 235-6. 93 In SAMAB, 8(4): 105-109, aug. 1964. 94 Kirby 1932: 22. 92 20 dai Sotho, originariamente abitanti dell’area del Transvaal e parte del Bechuanaland, e successivamente coloni dell’area nota come Basutoland.”95 Dalle indagini condotte nell’arco di un decennio, Kirby può asserire con sufficiente certezza che i Bushmen furono dapprima sparsi nelle aree oggi abitate dalle tre tribù, ma l’avvento degli Hottentots causò rivalità tra i due gruppi. La superiorità di arco e frecce portò gli Hottentots ad adottare tail armi gradualmente e questo è comprovato dall’osservazione di archi e frecce dei due gruppi etnici conservati nei musei. Il fatto che gli Hottentots discesero verso sud armati di sole zagaglie e adottarono l’arco dai Bushmen, è di fondamentale importanza per Kirby in quanto, proprio a partire da questo dato, egli sostiene di poter avanzare un’ipotesi di datazione dell’inizio dell’evoluzione degli strumenti a corde presso alcune delle popolazioni aborigene dell’Africa meridionale.96 Se da una parte Kirby sostiene – e lo ribadirà più volte nel corso di tutta la sua carriera – che i Bushmen siano riusciti a preservare quasi tutte le fasi della loro cultura originale, nonostante il contatto notevole, sebbene sporadico, con gli europei, d’altra parte si imbatte più volte in casi in cui lo stretto contatto con gli europei ha provocato un sostanziale cambiamento nello stile di vita e nella musica originaria di tale tribù, nonché una perdita di alcuni aspetti della loro lingua nativa. Per gli Hottentots il caso è simile, se non per il fatto che essi furono “obbligati” tempo prima ad abbandonare gran parte del loro stile di vita per adottare quello europeo.97 The Musical Instruments of the Native Races of South Africa Le ricerche in campo etnomusicologico ed etnografico del Prof. Kirby trovano il massimo compimento nella pubblicazione del suo capolavoro, The Musical Instruments of the Native Races of South Africa. Scritto in tre mesi 98 e dedicato a Charles Stanford Terry, “Emeritus Professor of History” della University of Aberdeen, fu pubblicato dalla Oxford University Press nel 1934 in sole 500 copie, ristampato dalla Witwatersrand University Press nel 1953 e ripubblicato dalla stessa casa editrice in una seconda e revisionata edizione nel 1965. 99 Tale libro è presto diventato il principale modello di riferimento sugli strumenti musicali degli indigeni del Sud Africa e dopo un lungo tempo di fuori stampa, è da pochi anni disponibile in una terza edizione (Johannesburg: Wits University Press, 2014) in cui il “Native Races” del titolo è stato cambiato con il più diplomatico “Indigenous People”. Come il titolo suggerisce, si tratta di una monografia sugli strumenti musicali di varie comunità dell’Africa Meridionale, in cui gli strumenti sud-africani della collezione di Kirby vengono descritti dai punti di vista storico, geografico, etnografico e tecnologico, con un’attenzione particolare alla correttezza della loro nomenclatura, e che rappresenta il culmine degli studi e dei viaggi del suo autore dediti alla musica Africana, in particolare quella delle tre comunità dei Bushmen, degli Hottentots e dei Bantu.100 Il South Africa esplorato da Kirby viene in questa occasione definito dall’autore come “that portion of the Continent which lies south of latitude 22, or, roughly, south of the River Limpopo”, punto di osservazione e di ricerca privilegiato per l’etnologo in quanto la sua posizione ha permesso che per centinaia di anni molto poco fosse conosciuto su di esso e sulle sue popolazioni, ad eccezione delle 95 Kirby 1932: 25. Kirby 1932: 24. 97 Kirby 1959. 98 Kirby 1967: 236. 99 Kirby 1967: 237. 100 In un contributo al Handbook on Race Relations in South Africa (Kirby 1949), Kirby definisce i “Natives” come un gruppo di comunità comprendenti Africans, Coloured, Cape Malays e Indians of Natal, a cui crede dovrebbero essere aggiunti anche Bushmen e Hottentots, sebbene siano numericamente inferiori rispetto alle altre comunità. 96 21 comunità vicine alla costa, che dal XV secolo erano regolarmente visitate e descritte da viaggiatori provenienti da molti paesi. D'altra parte, l’entroterra rimase praticamente sconosciuto fino all’avvento della colonizzazione europea nel XIX secolo. L’arrivo dei coloni avrebbe rivelato l’esistenza di una “strangely chaotic mixture of races” la cui storia passata era stata fino a quel momento sconosciuta. Tuttavia, le popolazioni al sud del Limpopo non erano state preservate totalmente dal contatto e dall’influenza di viaggiatori, ma tali influssi erano comunque, a detta di Kirby, facilmente individuabili: […] the native races which have inhabited large areas of South Africa for the last five centuries or so have retained much of their original culture, although they have naturally exchanged many ideas and adopted a few. There remains, it would seem, in spite of inter-tribal wars and their inevitable consequences, much that is ancient and individual among the various peoples of South Africa. The musical instruments used by them illustrate this well, and, from the point of view of the ethnologist, the study of them would appear to possess a double value, since they partake both of the material and the spiritual.”101 Nella prefazione alla prima edizione l’autore dichiara come suo principale obiettivo quello di fornire delle informazioni specifiche e dettagliate per combattere “le ricorrenti e abbastanza vaghe generalizzazioni sull’argomento che sono apparse nel lavoro di viaggiatori.” 102 A differenza dei viaggiatori ordinari cui si riferisce, Kirby incoraggia e persegue un altro metodo di osservazione, che si fonda sulla ricerca sul campo: I undertook no fewer than nine special expeditions to distant native areas, as well as many shorter excursions. On these expeditions I frequently lived in the native kraals, and participated in the musical performances of the people, the only way, in my opinion, for a European observer to learn and understand the principles underlying native music.103 Si tratta dunque per Kirby di riscattare i prodotti culturali di popolazioni indigene da un’idea stereotipica che li vede come “primitivi” in virtù della loro apparente semplicità e della non sofisticatezza dei loro esecutori, ma che in realtà mostrano, al di là di un’ingenuità costruttiva, una reale comprensione di certi fenomeni basilari del suono. 104 Quasi tutti gli strumenti osservati, descritti e collezionati erano stati realizzati in epoche pre-industriali e in tutto il lavoro di Kirby traspare il desiderio di preservare una traccia materiale e descrittiva della strumentazione indigena, sentita come fortemente minacciata dall’invadente e imminente modernità. Tale pericolo rafforza la necessità di recarsi personalmente in quei luoghi materiali e spirituali estremamente effimeri. Nonostante ciò, Kirby credeva che negli anni della sua ricerca la gran parte della strumentazione di tali popolazioni, in particolare dei Bushmen, fosse ancora intatta, sebbene sotto minaccia, tanto da sostenere che: South Africa is still able to demonstrate to the world three separate stages in the development of music [...] as represented by our Bushmen, Hottentots, and Bantu.105 E ancora: […] in no other part of the world, as far as I am aware, is it possible, to compare the musical practices of three different epochs in human history, as represented by our Bushmen, Hottentots, and Bantu, 101 Kirby 1968: vii-viii. Kirby 1968: xv. 103 Kirby 1968: vii. 104 Numerosi sono gli scritti di Kirby a sostegno di tale tesi, e.g. “Physical phenomena which appear to have determined the bases and development of an harmonic sense among Bushmen, Hottentots and Bantu as I have observed them in Southern Africa” (Kirby 1958). Qui Kirby sostiene che la gran parte della musica strumentale africana sia pentatonica in quanto basata su serie armoniche ottenibili da una singola corda o da un tubo aperto. 105 Kirby 1968: xx-xxi. 102 22 or to be in a position to observe in action what may legitimately be regarded as some of the earliest stages in the evolution of musical instruments.106 Nel recensire la terza edizione del libro sugli strumenti musicali degli indigeni, Lobley cita un passo dalla seconda edizione: The native peoples of South Africa share with other simple races the tendency to imitate European articles which take their fancy, using for their construction such local materials as may be suitable or available107 per poi sottolineare il fatto che, nonostante tale affermazione, Kirby non discuta nel su libro di possibili adattamenti locali delle forme musicali, e, oltretutto, faccia riferimento al decadimento della tradizione indigena – come quella dei rombi, all’epoca in cui scriveva ridotti a giocattoli per bambini (Kirby 1953: 99, cit. Lobley 2015: 245) – ma raramente esplori le ragioni sociali alla base di cambiamenti musicali. In effetti, il fine ultimo e dichiarato di Kirby nel suo capolavoro è stato quello di tracciare la storia dei vari tipi di strumenti musicali del Sud Africa, con particolare attenzione alle loro permutazioni nei secoli e nelle diverse aree geografiche e, attraverso questi, mettere in luce particolari aspetti della vita degli aborigeni.108 Per fare questo l’autore decide di non organizzare il materiale in base ai gruppi etnici di provenienza – o per dirlo a modo suo, “tribalmente” – ma di trattare ogni tipo109 di strumento musicale a parte, dal punto di vista storico e tecnologico, lasciando emergere considerazioni sugli aspetti tribali “accidentalmente”.110 Di conseguenza, il libro si struttura attorno a dei gruppi formati per famiglia di strumenti musicali, esposti in undici capitoli ed indagati a partire dal materiale storico del Paese e dall’evidenza della tradizione e dei rituali nativi. Uno degli obiettivi preposti è poi quello di tentare di indicare il più precisamente possibile la distribuzione geografica e “tribale” dei vari strumenti.111 Non potendo far affidamento a registrazioni visive né sonore – i suoi cilindri erano irrimediabilmente danneggiati già da allora – la descrizione degli strumenti musicali include un’esposizione estesa dei materiali dai quali sono realizzati e le tecniche utilizzate per farlo, così come le tecniche e pratiche esecutive. Tali descrizioni sono accompagnate da 158 fotografie complementari e alcune trascrizioni musicali che vanno dalle poche note di una scala a canzoni intere. Quanto alla trattazione delle influenze europee e all’osservazione di Lobley, è bene sottolineare che l’ultimo degli undici capitoli del libro è dedicato a “Some European Instruments played by ‘Raw’ Natives” e che effettivamente questo condensi in un paio di pagine il discorso sull’uso da parte dei Nativi di strumenti europei come lo scacciapensieri e la concertina; ed è anche vero che in queste pagine Kirby esaurisce l’argomento con la trattazione dell’adattamento degli strumenti europei da parte dei Nativi ai sistemi melodico-armonici da loro in uso, senza realmente indagarne le ragioni sociali. Tuttavia, Kirby si è dedicato a tale aspetto del fenomeno in altre sedi, alcune già citate nel precedente paragrafo, ed ha sempre espresso l’urgenza, talvolta in forma di veri e propri appelli, di condurre tale genere di ricerche: This research work is an urgent matter because during the last ten years the arts and crafts of the native races have been visibly degenerating, thanks to the increase of motor transport. Where formerly the native was both craftsman and artist, making his own musical instruments from reeds and similar material, he now travels to a shop and buys a concertina, or even invests in a 106 Kirby 1968: xiii. Kirby 1968: 333. 108 Kirby 1968: xix. 109 Cfr. Capitolo II, Il Museo a Wits, Tassonomia ed Exhibition Concept. 110 Ibid. 111 Kirby 1968: viii. 107 23 gramophone. It is an ironic fact that the very machine which enables us to preserve native music is stiffing it.112 La ricerca storica Il periodo di ricerca intensiva sul campo fu relativamente breve per Kirby. Dopo il 1936 restrinse il suo lavoro alla musicologia da tavolino e, soprattutto, alla ricerca storica.113 Mentre svolgeva delle ricerche per il suo libro sugli Strumenti Musicali dei Nativi, Kirby si imbatté in alcune figure prodotte o raccolte dal chirurgo militare Sir Andrew Smith, il quale aveva condotto una spedizione nel Transvaal negli anni 1834-36. Tali figure, che Kirby avrebbe voluto includere in parte nel suo libro, ritraevano degli aborigeni che suonavano alcuni strumenti musicali, alcuni Hottentots e altri Bantu. Quando finalmente Kirby riuscì ad ottenere una copia del breve report sulla spedizione, pubblicato nel giugno del 1836 dallo stesso Smith, rimase deluso nel non trovare alcun riferimento significativo alle pratiche musicali.114 Tuttavia, ormai appassionato all’argomento, scrisse una biografia di Andrew Smith, che fu pubblicata negli anni 1939 e 1940. Successivamente, Kirby si interessò alla vicenda del relitto Grosvenor East Indiaman, naufragato nella costa del Pondoland, sull’Oceano Indiano, nel 1782. Per lungo tempo investigò sul Grosvenor, portando a compimento l’indagine con la pubblicazione in due parti di “New Light on the Wrech of the Grosvenor East Indiaman, 1982”115 ed altri contributi successivi.116 “Collecting Music of the Bantu People, Professor P.R. Kirby’s Research Work in the City.” Nixon 2014: 205. 114 Kirby 1967: 255-6. 115 In African Notes, 2(3): 65-92, giugno 1945 e in African Notes, 2(4): 103-118, settembre 1945 (Bryer 1965: 30). 116 Per una lista completa cfr. Bryer 1965: 26-34. 112 113 24 Capitolo II - La collezione Durante la sua lunga carriera di ricerca ed insegnamento presso la University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) dal 1921 al 1952, Kirby diede forma ad una ampia e varia collezione, oggi nota come la Kirby Collection, costituita da fotografie, documenti, appunti, illustrazioni, registrazioni su cilindri e strumenti musicali provenienti da cinque continenti. La collezione di strumenti, comprendente circa 650 esemplari, è oggi considerata la più importante collezione di strumenti musicali provenienti dall’Africa Meridionale ed è registrata presso la South African Heritage Resources Agency.117 Nel 1954, a seguito del pensionamento di Kirby, la collezione fu affidata in prestito permanente all’Africana Museum di Johannesburg, dove rimase fino al 1981, per poi essere venduta due anni dopo alla University of Cape Town (UCT) dalla famiglia di Kirby. Al momento, gli strumenti si trovano presso il South African College of Music, UCT, e documenti e fotografie presso la sezione Manuscripts and Archives della Biblioteca della University of Cape Town.118 Il Museo degli strumenti musicali Nel vasto ed eterogeneo materiale conservato presso l’archivio della UCT, la ricerca di informazioni riguardo il “Museo” di Kirby si rivela il più delle volte sconfortante, in quanto sono pochissimi i casi in cui notizie concernenti gli strumenti della sua collezione – per esempio indizi sulla loro acquisizione, sull’identità dei loro costruttori e/o donatori, su interventi di restauro o di qualsiasi altro genere, sul loro utilizzo nell’ambito accademico e/o esecutivo – siano oggetto di corrispondenza o ulteriore documentazione. Certo, per gli strumenti africani si riesce a ricostruire grossomodo la storia di una grande parte degli esemplari facendo riferimento al capolavoro del loro collezionista, The Musical Instruments of the Native Races of South Africa (prima ed. London: Oxford University Press, 1934), ma se si parla degli strumenti di origine europea, le fonti si scoprono essere scarse ed insoddisfacenti. Tuttavia, ci sono due casi in cui l’autobiografia di Kirby (1967) corre in aiuto di chi voglia far luce sulla storia di quella minoranza di provenienza europea all’interno della sua collezione. Il primo caso riguarda il flauto traverso KG066, firmato Rudall Carte & Co, strumento legato all’adolescenza di Kirby in Scozia e alla sua prima educazione musicale: My flute-playing […] had developed to such an extent that I was permitted to play second flute in a performance of Haydn’s “Creation” given by the local Tonic Sol-fa Choral Society, conducted by William Litser, […]. This success prompted [my father] to suggest that I should be provided with a modern cylinder flute on the Boehm system, and in order to make this possible he decided to devote to the purchase of a suitable instrument the slender sums which had been deposited to my account from time to time in the Post Office Savings Bank by my mother, he himself making up the shortfall from his own purse. The instrument, a regular professional model manufactured by the famous firm of Rudall, Carte & Co. in London, duly arrived, and then began my struggle to master the radically different fingering.119 L’altro strumento menzionato da Kirby è un flauto diritto realizzato da Dolmetsch appositamente per lui (KG070): For this production [of Beaumont and Fletcher’s “The Knight of the Burning Pestle”] I again arranged contemporary music, and myself performed upon a tenor recorder which had been specially made for me by the celebrated Arnold Dolmetsch. This was, I believe, the first occasion on which a 117 Nixon 2014: 195. Ibid. 119 Kirby 1967: 24-5. 118 25 recorder was used in South Africa, and the critic of the Star, seeing on the programme, “Recorder: P. R. Kirby”, imagined that it was the title of some Tudor legal official!” 120 Infine, una lettera di carattere personale dell’aprile 1946 diretta a Eric Grant si chiude con un riferimento ad una spinetta da poco(?) acquisita da Kirby e registrata ora come KG154: Meanwhile my Museum has been presented with a genuine Italian Spinet of 1633. Unfortunately it has been knocked about a but and is not in playing order, though it could be reconditioned with a little work.121 Si tratta dunque di meri e saltuari accenni ad esemplari specifici che purtroppo non hanno seguito e fanno degli strumenti stessi l’unica fonte cui ci si può appellare se ne si vuole scoprire la storia. Il primo documento interamente dedicato al museo di strumenti musicali risale al giugno del 1946, quando Kirby partecipa al decimo “Annual General Meeting” della South African Museums Association (SAMA) con un intervento dal titolo “Professor Kirby's Music Museum”.122 Secondo l’Agenda inviata ai suoi partecipanti dalla SAMA,123 il paper di Kirby è il sedicesimo della lista e viene presentato alle 11.am del giorno giovedi 27 giugno, seguito da un altro intervento dello stesso Kirby dal titolo “Collecting on ‘Tristan da Cunha and Nichtingale Islands under difficulties’”. Tra i documenti del Manuscripts and Archives della UCT, vi sono due pagine manoscritte intitolate “Professor Kirby's Music Museum” contenenti la bozza finale per la presentazione al Comitato Editoriale di tale intervento, inviate da Dreman a Kirby con una lettera del 15 luglio 1946. Tale scritto si apre con un riconoscimento del ruolo “iniziatico” ricoperto dal Dr. Ernest Warren, allora direttore del Natal Museum e professore di zoologia presso il Natal University College, il quale fu colui che per primo introdusse il giovane Kirby – poco dopo il suo arrivo nel Natal in cui lavorò dal 1914 al 1921 per il Natal Educational Department – ai lavori di “Burchell and other writers on South Africa” e gli mostrò gli strumenti musicali dei Nativi conservati nel Museo, incoraggiandolo a proseguire lo studio di tale argomento. 124 Fu questa prima esperienza nel campo etnomusicologico dunque che portò Kirby a collezionare strumenti, in particolare sud-africani. Segue, nel testo, il riferimento al primo strumento dei Nativi che entrò in suo possesso dando il via alla collezione, “an excellent example of the Zulu ugwala”, ottenuto durante una visita d’ispezione scolastica a Bulwer, nella regione del Natal.125 A Bulwer, Kirby fu ospitato dal magistrato John Frank Clark, il quale ottenne per lui tale strumento nel distretto Pdela. La vicenda viene riportata in maniera più estesa da Nixon (2014: 199), il quale enfatizza il ruolo che l’autorità esercitata da Clark, in quanto magistrato, ebbe nell’acquisizione, in contrasto con la perdita subita da un “old man” nel momento in cui viene separato dal proprio strumento: Clark sent for a frail ‘old Zulu’ who did his best to play the ugwala for Kirby but ‘apologised for his inability to sound it properly, at the same time regretting that the present-day young men neglected the instruments of old’. Clark persuaded him to give his instrument to Kirby, who ‘bore it home in triumph. It was the first specimen that [Kirby] ever secured, and it marked the foundation of [his] 120 Kirby 1967: 187. Lettera di P. R. Kirby a Eric Grant, 2 aprile 1946 (BC 750). 122 Il 13 febbraio 1947 Kirby riceve una comunicazione di Chubb (SAMA) delle intenzioni di pubblicare tale intervento. Questo sarà edito nel 1947 con il titolo “My Museum of Musical Instruments”, in South African Museums Association Bulletin, 4 (1), 7–13. 123 Lettera della SAMA a Kirby, 4 giugno 1946 (BC 750). 124 “Professor Kirby’s Museum of Musical Instruments”, 1946. 125 Ibid. 121 26 future museum’ (Kirby 1947, 7). This foundational item in Kirby’s instrument collection is the ugwala numbered K133.126 Alla sua nomina al University College, Kirby iniziò uno studio sistematico della musica dei Nativi sud-africani, compiendo molti viaggi nelle zone dove questi abitavano, ma anche in Europa al fine di confrontare diversi tipi di strumenti, e ciò portò al collezionare un gran numero di esemplari sia africani che non. 127 Nel 1968, nella prefazione alla seconda edizione del suo libro The Musical Instruments of the Native Races of South Africa, dichiara di avere acquisito più di 300 strumenti dei Nativi sud-africani, alcuni dei quali sono molto raramente visti in Europa, e ribadisce di aver esaminato praticamente tutti gli strumenti musicali nelle collezioni pubbliche del Paese e molte in Europa.128 UGWALA K133. Primo strumento ad entrare nella Collezione di strumenti musicali di Kirby. © Kirby Collection, UCT Gli obiettivi di Kirby in quanto collezionista andavano comunque ben oltre il solo fatto di possedere oggetti di valore per un piacere o passione personali, e questo è dimostrato in primis dalla scelta di tenere fin da subito la propria collezione, compresi i pezzi più preziosi, in uno spazio accessibile ai visitatori, e per di più ambiente educativo per eccellenza come quello universitario. La necessità del collezionare rifletteva un bisogno di scoprire attraverso tali oggetti le tribù che li avevano prodotti e la loro storia, e allo stesso tempo tramandare tali scoperte attraverso l’insegnamento e l’esposizione. Proprio per quest’ultimo fine era importante il valore numerico oltre che storico della collezione. Questo punto di vista traspare in un appello del Prof. Kirby riportato in un articolo di giornale intitolato “Collecting Music of the Bantu People, Professor P.R. Kirby’s Research Work in the City”: “I am therefore appealing to everybody who is in contact with native life to help me in what is really an international work,” be went on. “At the Witwatersrand University I am going to form a special museum of African native music.” “There are samples of instruments in the local museums, but I want a collection very large in point of numbers, because of the many variations which are possible in one type.” “I do not want to leave out anything with which the native used to make a noise…and I hope that whoever can do so will forward specimens of old instruments to me at the Witwatersrand University, and also help me with any information they have acquired about native music in their own particular locality.” “The differences in material, workmanship and details of construction between similar instruments found in different parts of the country may conceivably give us added clues to the migration of the black races.” “Special Museum of African Native Music” sono le parole con cui Kirby si riferisce alla sua collezione e sono esplicative della sua concezione degli strumenti da lui raccolti. Altre collezioni, come lui stesso ammette, possedevano alcuni strumenti di tal genere, ma la peculiarità della Kirby Collection per il suo proprietario sembra stare, dal punto di vista puramente materiale, nel gran numero di esemplari in essa contenuti, che ne faceva la più completa collezione nel suo genere, oltre che nella rarità o unicità di alcuni esemplari. Se poi si assume che un museo debba “effettua[re] ricerche sulle testimonianze 126 Ibid. Ibid. 128 Kirby 1968: viii. 127 27 materiali e immateriali dell’uomo e del suo ambiente, acquisi[rle], conserva[rle], comunica[rle] e specificamente espo[rle] per scopi di studio, istruzione e diletto,”129 quello di Kirby lo è stato in piena regola fin dall’inizio, per lo meno per quanto riguarda gli scopi da esso perseguiti. Inoltre, tale museo viene sempre definito come museo “della musica” e non di strumenti musicali, a sottolineare il ruolo degli oggetti esposti in quanto veicoli di conoscenza di un qualcos’altro che non poteva là essere esposto e che si percepiva in quel periodo storico come estremamente effimero (e ad oggi lo è ancora di più). D’altra parte, come scrive Kirby, gli strumenti erano produttori di musica, ma anche di “rumori”, e portatori di significato e indizi che andavano oltre la performance musicale, e contribuivano alla ricerca in altre discipline: Kirby ha sempre esaltato l’effetto che tali informazioni sulle pratiche musicali avrebbero avuto sul lavoro antropologico in generale e i benefici che ne avrebbero tratto gli studi sul linguaggio.130 La Collezione “sonora” – I cilindri fonografici Tra i materiali acquisiti dalla UCT insieme agli strumenti musicali del Prof. Kirby vi è anche una piccola quantità di cilindri fonografici, circa 48-55, registrati con il dittafono, i quali fanno parte di una più ampia collezione “sonora” la cui parte rimanente si trova presso la Bleek and Lloyd Collection.131 Tali cilindri furono in parte donati a Kirby da amici e colleghi, probabilmente perché, in virtù del suo ruolo pubblico, egli appariva ai loro occhi come una sorta di “custode” della musica, lingua e cultura tradizionali africane e/o per la convinzione che essi contenessero qualcosa di particolare interesse (storico, musicologico, etnografico) per Kirby.132 Molti altri invece furono registrati dall’antropologa Dorothea Bleek all’inizio del XIX secolo. Anche Kirby produsse dei cilindri con proprie registrazioni durante le sue ricerche sul campo, in particolare dal 1921 nella regione del Rand,133 allo scopo dichiarato di trascrivere la musica dei Bushmen in notazione occidentale, e li usò a supporto delle sue lezioni fino a consumarli e, purtroppo, senza mai farne delle copie. Delle decine di cilindri conservati, solo alcuni potrebbero tuttavia essere di qualche interesse storico e/o musicologico, e questo è il caso particolare di quelli registrati sul campo da Dorothea Bleek, Percival Kirby ed altri, tra il 1905 e gli anni ’30 circa. È inoltre probabile che ciò che Bleek registrò nel 1911 nella provincia del Capo Settentrionale possa permetterci di sentire la lingua San, oggi estinta. La stessa Bleek trascrisse alcune di queste registrazioni e presso la Bleek and Lloyd Collection ci sono prove dell’esistenza di trascrizioni musicali fatte da Kirby su richiesta della prima.134 Ad oggi, in termini di qualità del suono e di dati descrittivi, i cilindri conservati presso la Bleek & Lloyd Collection godono di condizioni migliori rispetto a quelli presso il SACM. Questo è dovuto in gran parte al fatto che presso quest’ultima sede non ci fosse alcuna figura professionale con una competenza specifica per la gestione e cura necessarie per la conservazione adeguata di tali oggetti. Per di più, essi sono stati a lungo e letteralmente dimenticati presso il College ospitante. Dopo il loro arrivo, infatti, e per i successivi diciotto anni, tale parte sonora della collezione non viene mai menzionata né nei Definizione di “museo” secondo l’International Council of Museums, Unesco, in ICOM 2007. “Collecting Music of the Bantu People, Professor P.R. Kirby’s Research Work in the City.” 131 UCT n.d. 132 Zimmer 2013: 6-7. 133 Kirby 1967: 178. 134 Autore Sconosciuto, Audial Snapshot of Extinct San Languages, Monday Paper Archives, Volume 25.05, 23 Mar. 2006, www.Uct.Ac.Za/Print/Mondaypaper/Archives/?Id=5610, [Last Accessed: 28.03.2013] cit. Zimmer 2013: 15-6. 129 130 28 documenti dell’istituto ospitante, né nella corrispondenza interna all’istituzione. Per quegli anni tali materiali sono stati depositati – o meglio dimenticati – in un comune studio all’interno della struttura universitaria, e sottoposti a condizioni climatiche inadeguate per la loro natura. Nel 2002 furono riscoperti e la nuova responsabile del servizio informativo delle Special Collections, Lesley Hart, avviò immediatamente un processo di raccolta informazioni su procedure e costi di riproduzione e digitalizzazione, che portò al coinvolgimento di alcuni esperti nel 2004.135 Dalle analisi svolte in tale periodo si è potuto constatare che i cilindri contenenti le registrazioni della Bleek erano relativamente in buone condizioni; tuttavia, tale processo di recupero non è andato oltre, e anche il progetto di coinvolgere alcuni studiosi per l’identificazione e interpretazione dei contenuti sonori al fine di scoprirne il reale valore non fu mai realizzato. In generale, comunque, anche i cilindri che non sono irrimediabilmente rovinati dalla muffa o da graffi e spaccature e che possono pertanto essere riprodotti, hanno un suono debole, disturbato dal rumore della macchina che li ha registrati, con suoni distorti e ovattati (si tratta principalmente di canzoni clericali) in lingue africane più o meno indiscernibili.136 Sembrerebbe che i cilindri siano stati in possesso di Kirby per vari decenni dopo la loro donazione ed è improbabile che siano mai stati ascoltati da quando sono arrivati alla UCT. Sono inoltre conosciute varie fonti in cui Kirby stesso dichiara che essi erano irrimediabilmente danneggiati e dunque la loro musica perduta. 137 Perciò, anche se i cilindri di Kirby fossero stati conservati correttamente, è altamente probabile che non si sarebbe riusciti ad ascoltare niente, specie di ciò che per Kirby era interessante. Per ironia della sorte, scrive Zimmer, ciò che è sopravvissuto nella Collezione sonora di Kirby è ciò che di meno interessante ci fosse per Kirby, mentre allo stesso tempo, ciò che per lui era di estremo interesse – ma che tuttavia non lo spinse a crearne delle copie per la sua preservazione – fu riprodotto fino al deperimento.138 La Collezione “visiva” – Le Fotografie Come accennato, la Kirby Collection non comprende solo strumenti musicali, e a questi ultimi si associa una “Kirby Collection of Photographs”, costituita da un numero considerevole di fotografie, la maggior parte scattata da Kirby in persona durante le sue spedizioni, altre da lui commissionate e ulteriori immagini da lui raccolte. Tuttavia, alle fotografie di Kirby non è stato riconosciuto lo status di archivio, ed esse sono state distribuite in categorie etniche come rappresentative delle musiche di vari gruppi etnici.139 Non c’è dubbio sul fatto che Kirby considerasse di estrema importanza la documentazione del suo lavoro attraverso mezzi visivi, ed egli impiegò in larga misura l’iconografia non solo nelle sue pratiche d’insegnamento, ma anche nel lavoro di ricerca e talvolta ai fini performativi. Michael Nixon suggerisce che, data la scarsezza di note di campo sistematiche rintracciabili tra i documenti di Kirby, sembrerebbe che le fotografie di quest’ultimo abbiano “rimpiazzato la parola come testimone immediato, permettendogli di scrivere [a partite] dalle fotografie e dalla memoria.”140 Inoltre, la portata informativa della “collezione fotografica” di Kirby andrebbe oltre il contenuto visivo della fotografia in sé, e si manifesterebbe nelle numerose scritte e nei tanti appunti presenti sui materiali di conservazione, su 135 Zimmer 2013: 10-3. Zimmer 2013: 14. 137 Nixon 2010. 138 Zimmer 2013: 26. 139 Nixon 2014: 192. 140 Nixon 2014: 197. 136 29 etichette nel retro delle fotografie, e nelle occasionali annotazioni a mano, particolarmente preziosi per la ricostruzione delle modalità con cui la collezione fu archiviata nei vari musei del Sud Africa e della pratiche del collezionista stesso.141 Il Museo a Wits, Tassonomia ed Exhibition Concept Come si è detto più volte, i materiali di documentazione riguardo la collezione di Kirby sono alquanto scarsi rispetto a quelli pervenutici riguardo le altre aree di studio frequentate dal collezionista. Per avere un’idea della disposizione degli strumenti nell’esibizione a Wits, si può comunque ricorrere a testimonianze visive. Questo tipo di indagine è stato già svolto dal curatore attuale della collezione, il Prof. Michael Nixon, il quale ha pubblicato un contributo in cui vengono illustrate in un paragrafo intitolato “Kirby’s arrangement of the musical instrument displays” 142 delle fotografie e due Figura II. Kirby nel suo museo a Wits (KC416, Manuscripts & Archives, UCT). scritti di Kirby (1947; 1963) al fine di proporre una ricostruzione dell’organizzazione dell’esibizione del museo degli strumenti musicali di Kirby presso la University of the Witwatersrand. Nixon fa riferimento a otto fotografie che mostrano Kirby nel suo museo a Wits in diversi periodi. Se ne riportano qui due: una (Figura II, KC416) in cui Kirby viene immortalato nel suo museo, in piedi davanti ad un pianoforte Clementi, probabilmente negli anni ’30;143 ed un’altra (Figura III, KC431) in cui due uomini suonano un serpentone (KG026) e un cornetto (KG027) e Kirby con la pipa in mano li osserva, di fronte alla vetrina degli aerofoni. Da quest’ultima foto, si possono identificare molti strumenti della collezione attuale.144 Come dal punto di vista pratico la collezione di strumenti musicali fosse disposta a Wits, lo apprendiamo da un passo dell’autobiografia di Kirby in cui l’autore descrive le sue preoccupazioni alla notizia datagli dalla moglie sull’incendio scoppiato all’Università durante la notte precedente al 21 dicembre 1931: … my collection of musical instruments was housed in my lecture room at the east end of the top floor of that very Arts block, and I naturally imagined that it had, like the greater part of the building, been completely destroyed. 145 Fortunatamente il danno alla collezione fu praticamente ininfluente: all that I lost in the fire was a cheap modern guitar, which was lying on the floor of a cupboard in a corner of the lecture room, and which was ruined by the water which seeped under the door. 146 Kirby prosegue con una testimonianza particolarmente preziosa in quanto permette di avere un’idea della collocazione degli strumenti all’interno del museo: the majority of the musical instruments in my collection were displayed in glass-fronted wooden cases which stood against the walls of the “Museum”. Others were kept in a long “island” case which ran down the centre of the room, and still others in a few odd glass cases that I had managed to 141 Nixon 2014: 197-8. Nixon 2014: 207-11. 143 Nixon 2014: 207. 144 Nixon 2014: 208. 145 Kirby 1967: 157. 146 Kirby 1967: 158. 142 30 acquire from various sources. Some of the larger specimens, such as the Bantu xylophones, were hung on the walls, while instruments such as drums and harps had to stand on the floor. Il principale impedimento alla realizzazione dei progetti di Kirby per l’esibizione dei suoi strumenti a Wits era rappresentato dalla mancanza di spazio, e in secondo luogo, ma non ininfluente, dai costi che questo avrebbe comportato. In un articolo pubblicato nel numero di Settembre 1954 dell’Africana notes and news, è offerto un report su una lezione destinata a 120 bambini tenutasi a maggio di quell’anno presso la Kirby Collection; qui viene subito posto in risalto il limite comportato dagli spazi disponibili: “it is unfortunate that the gallery in which the Kirby Collection is housed is too full of showcases to permit the introduction of a hundred chairs for an audience.”147 Lo spazio ideale per la sua collezione viene invece descritto da Kirby in questo modo: I had hoped that both ends of the “Museum” could have been fitted with deep cases running right across the room and up to the ceiling, so that I could have had a double arrangement of the African instruments, those at one end being arranged tribally, and those at the other phylogenetically, as I originally had sufficient “duplicates” to make this possible. Unfortunately I was not indulged to this extent, with the result that my “duplicates” had to be stored in the basement of the building, where, probably owing to damp, borers got into them and they had to be destroyed. The collection, however, continued to grow, and by the time that I left the service of the University and handed over my instruments to be cared for by the Africana Museum authorities, it numbered over 600 specimens, of which about 400 were those of our South African aborigines – the largest and most complete of these ever got together.148 Il concetto espositivo di “double arrangement” è particolarmente significativo in quanto rappresentativo della visione di Kirby inerente l’evoluzione degli strumenti, i contatti tra tribù, e del suo approccio allo studio e all’analisi degli strumenti musicali e delle informazioni di cui essi sono portatori. Kirby immaginava una doppia sistemazione che riflettesse due approcci diversi, ma non necessariamente incompatibili, all’analisi degli strumenti e che implicitamente si riferisce a due principi classificatori diversi: da una parte gli oggetti erano raggruppati e disposti “filogeneticamente” e dall’altra “tribalmente”, ricordando in tal modo i criteri classificatori proposti rispettivamente da Henry Balfour e da Margaret Shaw. Nixon (2014) propone un confronto delle idee di Kirby riguardo la modalità e organizzazione dell’esibizione, e di conseguenza della sua teoria di classificazione, con la realizzazione effettiva di tali convinzioni nell’esibizione, attraverso il ricorso al materiale iconografico lasciato dal collezionista, quale testimonianza della messa in pratica o meno di ciò che viene asserito nei due scritti da lui citati: My Museum of Musical Instruments 149 e A Plea for the Taxonomy of Articles of Material Culture in South African Museums.150 Ne risulta una teoria espositiva e classificatoria piuttosto idealistica Figura III. Kirby e altri due uomini nel suo museo a da parte di Kirby, che, a giudicare dalle se pur Wits (KC431, Manuscripts & Archives, UCT). 147 R.F.K. 1954: 102. Kirby 1967: 161. 149 In South African Museums Association Bulletin, 4 (1), 1947, pp. 7–13, cit. Nixon 2014. 150 In South African Museums Association Bulletin, 8 (1), 1963, pp. 19–23, cit. Nixon 2014. 148 31 poche e poco chiare fotografie in cui compaiono le vetrine del museo, non è messa completamente in pratica. La modalità con cui Kirby dispone le informazioni dal punto di vista teorico è basata sul sistema proposto dall’etnologa museale Margaret Shaw. Quest’ultima lavorò con l’etnologo N. J. van Warmelo, e presentò nel 1940 ad un incontro della SAMA un “System of Cataloguing Ethnographic Material”, basato sulla classificazione e tipizzazione di gruppi etnici sudafricani di van Warmelo (1935), che lei stessa aveva applicato nel suo lavoro museale. 151 Un ampio riferimento di Kirby a tale sistema si trova nel citato articolo del 1947, in cui l’autore spiega come gli strumenti della collezione potrebbero essere usati per dimostrare l’evoluzione di trombe e flauti: To show how these specimens may be used in conjunction with the African types, I would point out, for example, that the evolution of instruments of the trumpet and flute classes may not only be seen but heard. Starting with the animal horns, we proceed to imitations of these in wood and metal. Noting in passing that, though in Africa such instruments are side blown, those of Europe and Asia are blown at the tip. The Egyptian facsimiles, together with a Tibetan trumpet, come in at this point, and later a French trumpet of 1650 and a slide trumpet of 1800 lead us to the invention of the ophicleide and the keyed bugle of the early nineteenth century, then through the cornet-a-pistons of 1835 to the present modern instruments. 152 Il lavoro di tipologia evolutiva di Augustus Pitt Rivers e di Henry Balfour, all’epoca direttore del Pitt Rivers Museum (Oxford), sembra aver influito sulle idee di Kirby. Balfour delinea una linea evolutiva partendo dai primitivi corni di animali attraverso tappe intermedie rappresentate da altri strumenti fino ad arrivare agli strumenti “moderni del presente”.153 Uno schizzo di Kirby illustra d’altra parte la sua concezione di evoluzione di alcuni strumenti dello stesso tipo. Il tentativo da parte di Nixon di ricondurre il pensiero espresso nello schizzo alla realizzazione pratica dell’esposizione degli strumenti nelle vetrine di Wits rivela un’evidente incoerenza: lo schizzo disponeva gli strumenti secondo una linea evolutiva da sinistra a destra, come nel modello di Pitt Rivers e Balfour, che non viene poi rispettata nell’esposizione. Le lacune tra tipi di strumenti, inoltre, sono spesso considerevoli e non mostrano il “processo graduale” nella tecnologia lungo il tempo a cui Pitt Rivers aspirava.154 Questo avviene perché lo schizzo di Kirby fa riferimento soltanto agli strumenti presenti nella sua collezione, molto meno consistente di quella del Pitt Rivers Museum.155 Dopo il pensionamento, Kirby inizia a pensare a come organizzare l’esposizione dei suoi strumenti. Nel descrivere ciò,156 cita apertamente il sistema seguito da Balfour, dove tutti gli oggetti, musicali e non, venivano raggruppati “filogeneticamente”. In questa sede Kirby sostiene la superiorità di tale sistema, specialmente a scopo didattico, rispetto al raggruppamento per “razze”, che lui stesso favorisce nel suo libro The Musical Instruments of the Native Races of South Africa. 151 Nixon 2014: 209. Kirby 1947: 13. 153 Balfour, “The Relationship of Museums to the Study of Anthropology”, Presidential Address to the Anthropological Section of BAAS, Journal of the Anthropological Institute, 34, 1904, 10–19, England: The Other Within, cit. Nixon 2015: 210. 154 Chapman, “Like a Game of Dominoes” in Pearce, S. (ed.) Museum Economics and the Community, vol. 2. London: New Research in Museum Studies, 1991, 136–7, cit. Nixon 2014: 211. 155 Nixon 2014: 211. 156 Kirby, “A Plea for the Taxonomy of Articles of Material Culture in South African Museums”, in South African Museums Association Bulletin, 8 (1), 1963, 19–25, cit. Nixon 2014. 152 32 L’idea di Kirby, è comunque quella di utilizzare un doppio sistema di classificazione per gli strumenti indigeni, sia filogenetico che “tribale”, ed egli possedeva all’epoca abbastanza duplicati per farlo. Nella teoria di Balfour gli oggetti dovevano essere inseriti in gruppi a seconda delle loro sembianze o funzioni, in modo da formare delle serie, indipendentemente dalla loro provenienza spazio-temporale, che illustrassero al meglio possibile la varietà della macro-categoria cui appartenevano; all’interno di tali macro-categorie si potevano poi formare dei sottogruppi locali. Si arrivava così ad ottenere sequenze di idee o di stadi evolutivi di un particolare gruppo di oggetti al fine di dimostrare visualmente una continuità nell’evoluzione universale di una classe. Da ciò deriva che gli oggetti fossero esibiti senza riguardo per provenienza o data, mentre era implicito che tale sistema avrebbe privilegiato l’affinità regionale rispetto ad altre considerazioni.157 È bene comunque sottolineare che mentre le concezioni di Balfour si basavano su forme, funzioni e geografia in una prospettiva evolutiva, Kirby aveva sempre in mente una doppia classificazione – “both phylogenetic and tribal, as far as my indigenous instruments were concerned.”158 Sebbene questo non sia mai stato realizzato da Kirby nell’esibizione a causa di ragioni pratiche, nel suo grande libro sugli strumenti del Sud Africa (1934; 1968) l’autore raggruppa tutto in classi di strumenti simili in forma e funzione, e all’interno di tali gruppi propone le sue considerazioni riguardo diverse tribù separatamente. Laddove lo trova rilevante, considera anche interazioni tra gruppi etnici, ma tale aspetto non è comunque un principio organizzativo. Lo stesso titolo del libro, The Musical Instruments of the Native Races of South Africa, rinforza la divisione tripartita e “razziale” tra Bantu, Hottentot e Bushman.159 Entrambe le idee della disposizione filogenetica e tribale trovano spazio in tale pubblicazione e si manifestano nella logica seguita nei suoi capitoli: ognuno presenta e discute fonti storiche in dettaglio, per poi trattare gli strumenti musicali di uno specifico gruppo etnico prima di passare al gruppo successivo e ai suoi prodotti. Questo modo di procedere permette a Kirby di fare un paragone tra gruppi etnici, percepire l’evoluzione degli strumenti, e dedurre principi di pratica e teoria musicali, senza dunque allontanarsi così tanto dalle idee classificatorie di Margaret Shaw (Shaw 1940).160 Kirby parla consciamente di tassonomia e filogenesi, riconoscendo il debito di tale terminologia alla biologia, ma confonde scienza naturale e prodotti umani. Sostiene che la mancanza di una “classificazione sistematica e universale del materiale etnologico” sia la causa del fatto che molti musei, se non la maggior parte di essi, si concentrino principalmente su studi ed esibizioni “biologici” e che conseguentemente abbiano dei “biologi” come direttori:161 Strictly speaking, “taxonomy” means the classification of animals and plants according to the natural relationships, and the idea of such classification was primarily due to Linnaeus, whose special interest lay in animal and plant life. Classification, however, is essential to many more [subjects?] than those embraced by biology, and ethnology, in its various aspects, is undoubtedly one of these. It is not improbable that, had the study of ethnology been recognised in the time of Linnaeus, he might have extended his taxonomic nomenclature to cover objects of material culture. Had he done this, one might today have been talking glibly about their valued specimens of hasta communis, 157 Nixon 2014: 212-3. Kirby 1963: 22. 159 Nixon 2014: 213. 160 Nixon (2014: 216), a sostegno dell’influenza della Shaw sulle idee espositive di Kirby: “Kirby notes that Margaret Shaw – in reflecting on her designs of the displays for the new ethnological gallery in the South African Museum, Cape Town – speaks of the displays as organised in categories that were ‘primarily tribal, secondarily geographical [and w]ithin the tribal grouping the material was arranged according to subjects’, depending on the collection’s holdings (1947, 22).” 161 Kirby 1963: 19 cit. Nixon 2014: 214. 158 33 instead of the common-or-garden assegai, or about sagitta Bushmaniensis Burchellii, instead of the particular variety of Bushman arrow observed by that great traveller. But doubtless because Linnaeus was not specially interested in the apparently unselected articles usually found in the oldfashioned “Cabinets of Curiosity”, [illegible] we have been deprived of a systematic and universal classification of ethnographic materials, I imagine it is the abuse of this that has caused many of not most, of an museums to concentrate principally upon biological studies and exhibits, and consequently to have bioligists as thie directors. 162 Kirby propone degli argomenti a sostegno di un’integrazione di scienze naturali e antropologiche, e si rivolge ai progressi ottocenteschi nel sviluppare un sistema coerente e universale di classificazione per strumenti musicali, raccomandando per gli strumenti africani “a modification of the universal system of von Hornbostel and Sachs”. Alla fine dunque torna a considerare i sistemi di classificazione che sosteneva avessero portato ad una “tassonomia scolastica per tutti gli strumenti musicali di tutte le epoche,”163 secondo lui basati su un principio che privilegiava la scienza rispetto agli artefatti umani, e che per questo motivo riteneva essere inadatti a questi ultimi. Il trasferimento presso l’Africana Museum Nei pochi anni precedenti alla sua pensione, Kirby era preoccupato che nessuno avrebbe tenuto la sua collezione, e al momento del suo pensionamento (1953) pensò che il luogo adatto in cui conservare ed esporre la sua collezione sarebbe stato l’Africana Museum, ribadendo che il valore dei suoi strumenti stava per lui nella possibilità di studio che si può fare su e attraverso essi: the material that I had amassed for the various operas that I had mounted in the past I handed over to the Johannesburg Public Library together with my model stages, and in like manner my very large collection of musical instruments on permanent loan to the Africana Museum, where there was a trained staff that I knew would look after it, and where it would be readily seen and studied by thousands of visitors to that establishment. 164 Kirby “1111242222”, ms., n.d. Kirby 1963: 23, cit. Nixon 2014: 214. 164 Kirby 1967: 179. 162 163 34 Capitolo III - La concezione di un catalogo per la Kirby Collection of Musical Instruments Kirby esprime per la prima volta il desiderio di redigere un catalogo della sua collezione di strumenti musicali in una lettera datata 3 marzo 1946 e indirizzata a Mr. Kennedy, bibliotecario della Public Library di Johannesburg. Spinto da “due eventi imminenti”, ovvero la formazione dei nuovi “Joint Museums” a Johannesburg e il suo prossimo pensionamento, dichiara sia arrivato il momento di creare un “adeguato” catalogo dei suoi strumenti musicali. Si rivolge dunque a Kennedy perché trovi una persona dall’Africana Museum che possa aiutarlo in questo progetto.165 Due mesi dopo Kirby invia una lettera a Kennedy in cui si propone di offrire “tutta l’assistenza in suo potere” a Miss Manaschewits per la catalogazione del proprio museo i mercoledì pomeriggio.166 Allo stesso anno risale una serie di lettere in cui comunica a diversi dei suoi corrispondenti il suo nuovo progetto di rendere disponibile un catalogo “raisonnée” della sua collezione e i motivi che lo spingono a farlo: you will be glad to know that, as a preliminary step to handing over my collection to the new Joint City and University Museum of Science and Industry, I am cataloguing the collection along with Miss Hermia Oliver, who is very anxious that eventually it be not adequately and dramatically displayed, but that an illustrated and fully explanatory catalogue be printed. All this will take time, but will be well worth doing.167 It will not be many years now before I am “officially senile”, and since the Johannesburg Municipal Council and our University are about to collaborate in founding what will eventually be a very large museum of science and industry, as well as of the history of this country, I am starting “the ball rolling” by donating my entire Museum of Musical Instruments to the new establishment. To this end we have begun cataloguing the collection, and hope eventually to issue a catalogue raisonne, fully illustrated. Accordingly, I should like to know if you still have the blocks which were used for my book in 1934. If they still exist, they would simplify our work enormously. [...]168 Infine, in coda al già citato manoscritto “Professor Kirby’s Museum of Musical Instruments” (1946) si annuncia la realizzazione di un catalogo descrittivo della collezione. Sebbene le lettere citate attestino che il catalogo fosse in lavorazione già dal 1946, questo si farà attendere per oltre vent’anni e coloro che sembrano essersi occupate della sua realizzazione in questa prima fase, Miss Manaschewits e Miss Oliver, non verranno più menzionate. Le testimonianze sul progetto del catalogo della Kirby Collection of Musical Instruments riprendono nel 1964, in particolare con una lettera inviata da Anna Smith,169 della Public Library di Johannesburg, da cui apprendiamo che il catalogo è in lavorazione e sono già stati schedati vari strumenti. La Smith propone di dividere il materiale non sud-africano mettendolo in una sezione a parte in quanto tale gruppo richiede un approccio diverso. In generale, il sistema di classificazione usato è da subito e dichiaratamente quello di Hornbostel-Sachs. Nella lettera compare anche il nome “Miss M. de Lange” e ad essa sono allegate nove pagine esemplificative dell’impostazione delle schede. Le prime sei pagine riportano il titolo IDIOPHONES: PERCUSSIONS e IDIOPHONES: PLUCKED e comprendono la descrizione di 13 e 12 strumenti, raggruppati nell’esposizione per categoria: i primi nella South Gallery, desk case 36, essendo tutti Rattles; i secondi nella South Gallery, desk case 35, sotto la categoria Sansa. 165 Lettera di Kirby a Kennedy, 2 marzo 1946. Ibid. 167 Lettera di Kirby a E.C. Chubb, 10 giugno 1946. 168 Lettera di Kirby a Hubert Foss, 21 giugno 1946. 169 Lettera di Anna Smith a Kirby, 25 agosto 1964. 166 35 Seguono gli AEROPHONES: WHIRLING AEROPHONES (aerofoni liberi), con le sottocategorie: BULL ROARERS (Rombi) e WHIZZING-DISKS, entrambe ulteriormente divise “tribalmente” in “Bushman Bullroarers”, “Korana Bullroarers”; “Bechuana Bullroarers” e “Venda Bullroarers” la prima e “Bushman Whizzing-disks” e “Venda Whizzing-disks” la seconda. In questa prima bozza inviata a Kirby vengono indicate per ogni scheda le seguenti voci: Specimen (numero di inventario) Name Tribe Collected (indica la persona che ne è entrata in possesso e la data di acquisizione) Locality Description (riporta la descrizione fisica dell’oggetto) Playing (riferisce della tecnica esecutiva) Use (tratta degli usi dello specifico strumento in rituali o nella vita quotidiana dei Nativi) Literature/Illustration (di solito rimanda al volume The Musical Instruments of the Native Races of South Africa) In una lettera del 26 novembre 1964 con stessa carta intestata e riferimento a De Lange, A. Smith rivolge a Kirby alcuni dubbi e domande sulla catalogazione di alcuni strumenti africani che non compaiono nella loro specificità nelle linee guida fornite da Hornbostel e Sachs e ne fornisce una lista con possibili collocazioni nelle categorie standard di strumenti primitivi. Nella seconda sezione propone di raggruppare tutti gli strumenti europei e dell’Est e di rifarsi fedelmente allo “schema Hornbostel”: As this section will be quite small, perhaps detailed categories will be unnecessary, and groupings such as percussion ideophones will suffice.170 La categoria “drums” sembra comunque essere la maggior fonte di problemi per mancanza di una bibliografia adeguata e dunque di informazioni sulle modalità esecutive. Nella stessa occasione vengono chieste informazioni anche sull’uso sociale o rituale di alcuni strumenti esotici. La corrispondenza tra Kirby e A. Smith pervenutaci si esaurisce con quanto riportato sopra e non disponiamo di alcuna risposta del primo alle bozze del catalogo che gli sono state nel tempo proposte. Tuttavia, da una quantità discreta di lettere scambiate tra Kirby e Jeremy Montagu negli anni 1967 e 1969 che ci è pervenuta, si può cogliere una generale insoddisfazione da parte di Kirby. Il 2 marzo Kirby scrive: Meanwhile I am checking the proof sheets of the catalogue of my collection of musical instruments, which has been compiled by a young ethnologist of Africana Museum in Johannesburg, in which the collection is housed […] the catalogue will be what the French call “raisonnée”, with full explanations of the nature etc. of the specimens. 171 Nel frattempo, la seconda edizione del libro The Musical Instruments of the Native Races of South Africa edita nel 1968, apporta delle modifiche rispetto alla prima edizione del 1934, in primo luogo per ciò che concerne la classificazione degli strumenti africani. “I was, of course, well aware that no universally accepted ‘taxonomy’ of musical instruments existed, though two excellent systems had been evolved in recent years.”172 Consapevole dei sistemi classificatori messi a punto da Gevaert e Mahillon (1877) e Hornbostel e Sachs (1914), Kirby preferisce mantenere la divisione nei tre grandi gruppi di percussioni, 170 Lettera di Anna Smith a Kirby, 26 novembre 1964. Lettera di Kirby a Jeremy Montagu, 2 marzo 1967. 172 Kirby 1952: xi. 171 36 fiati e corde. Tuttavia, fornisce una linea guida per chi voglia riportare gli strumenti da lui descritti nel libro ad un sistema più scientifico di classificazione, così cita five main ‘Divisions’ as set out by Canon Galpin: 1. Autophonic, or self-vibrating instruments (rattles, xylophones, etc.). 2. Membranophonic, or skin-vibrating instruments (drums, etc.). 3. Chordophonic, or string-vibrating instruments (musical bows, etc.). 4. Aerophonic, or windvibrating instruments (whistle, flutes, etc.). 5. Electrophonic, or electrically vibrating instruments (‘Hammond’ organ, etc.).”173 Comprensibilmente, nessuno strumento appartenente alla quinta divisione è mai stato usato dagli aborigeni del Sud Africa; inoltre, gli strumenti dei capitoli I e III (rattles and clappers, xylophones and sansas) appartengono alla prima divisione (Autophonic); quelli del capitolo II (drums) alla seconda divisione (Membranophonic); quelli dei capitoli IV, V, VI e VII (bull-roarers and spinning discs, horns and trumpets, whistles flutes and vibrating reeds, reed-flute ensembles) alla quarta divisione (Aerophonic) e quelli del capitoli VIII, IX e X (Gora, stringed instruments, Bushman and Hottentot violins and the Ramkie) alla terza divisione (Chordophonic).174 Nel 1969 Montagu torna a riferirsi al catalogo ormai ultimato della Kirby Collection, esprimendo però rammarico per il fatto che tale lavoro non fosse stato compilato da Kirby in persona: “there are all sorts of little things that would never have slipped past your eyes.”175 A tale notizia, Kirby risponde un paio di settimane dopo, riconoscendo che la preparazione di un’etnologa non fosse sufficiente alla realizzazione di un progetto valido dal punto di vista organologico e proponendo a Montagu di occuparsi lui in persona della correzione e ultimazione del lavoro, in vista di un catalogo illustrato: I am really flattered by the praise which you have given it, and apologise for the errors made by the young ethnologist who compiled it. I feel that it was a really stout effort on her part, for she had to start from scratch, since the musical aspects of ethnology are never taught in our University courses. Your suggestion of an illustrated edition I shall pass on to Miss Smith, who herself told me that if the Catalogue were to be found of interest and value she might consider having it published, i.e. properly printed. Would you yourself be prepared to make the necessary corrections if I have another copy sent to you (with, of course, due acknowledgments)? I feel that you are the very one to do this.176 Qualche giorno dopo arriva la pronta riposta di Montagu, il quale si dice più che disponibile a dedicarsi a tale lavoro, a patto che la Biblioteca sia d’accordo. In un finesettimana Montagu riempie un taccuino con appunti su schede “pescate a caso” dal catalogo, che invia in copia con la lettera, in modo che possa a sua volta essere spedita ad A. Smith. In generale, Montagu richiede più dettagli su molti aspetti, “non tutti musicologici,” come condizione imprescindibile per la realizzazione di un catalogo all’altezza della collezione, definendo allo stesso tempo il catalogo di De Lange una mera “checklist of anything else”, che non permette l’identificazione né il riconoscimento degli strumenti in assenza di un esemplare di paragone. Al contrario, “a catalogue should be able to stand on its own, whether the reader has the [Musical Instruments of the] Native Races [of South Africa] open beside it or not”. Tra l’altro, costi permettendo, è auspicabile che il catalogo 173 Kirby 1968: xi-xii. Kirby 1968: xii. 175 Lettera di Jeremy Montagu a Kirby, 31 marzo 1969. 176 Lettera di Kirby a Jeremy Montagu, 14 aprile 1969. 174 37 disponga di una foto, se non per esemplare, almeno per gruppo di strumenti affini. Per questo motivo, Montagu richiede a Kirby delle fotografie di molti strumenti al fine di svolgere il lavoro a lui richiesto: in order to do this job, I would need photographs of a lot of the instruments in section II and most of all, someone with the patience to answer a lot of letters and to take measurements (not all of which are sufficiently detailed) and to look for makers’ addresses as well as names.177 Montagu ribadisce più volte, anche in chiusura della lettera, i suoi scrupoli rispetto alle possibili reazioni della Public Library, di A. Smith e di M. De Lange, davanti al suo criticismo che, precisa, è dovuto al fatto che il catalogo “sia un buon lavoro, e non perché non lo sia”.178 Tuttavia, quello immaginato da Montagu, era un lunghissimo quanto costoso lavoro e perciò avrebbe potuto trattarsi di qualcosa che andava al di là dell’interesse delle Biblioteca e oltre i costi che una casa editrice sarebbe stata disposta ad affrontare per la sua pubblicazione, oltre che di quanto gli acquirenti sarebbero stati propensi a pagare. Purtroppo, sembra che la collaborazione Kirby-Montagu al fine di un catalogo illustrato “degno della collezione” che rappresentava non sia andata oltre la sopracitata lettera; d’altra parte il prof. Kirby non era al tempo nelle forze per assistere Montagu in tale faticoso e lungo lavoro e sarebbe morto entro un anno. Probabilmente le condizioni fisiche di Kirby, aggiunte ad uno scarso interesse da parte della Public Library che forse, come Montagu temeva, non ritenne che il progetto valesse i costi che avrebbe comportato, fecero sì che l’idea di un catalogo illustrato della più esaustiva collezione di strumenti musicali africani fosse accantonata. Gli appunti del taccuino di Montagu sono comunque arrivati al South African College of Music e, integrati con commenti che lo stesso studioso ha fatto in occasione della visita alla Collezione nel 2008, hanno costituito finora un materiale prezioso per il lavoro curatoriale e di conservazione. Quanto al catalogo De Lange, questo, se pur nella forma di “checklist”, con descrizioni talvolta ridotte all’osso e con inferenze riguardo la storia e l’attribuzione degli esemplari che lasciano di tanto in tanto trasparire una certa superficialità, costituisce – a patto che ci si approcci con le dovute precauzioni – un utilissimo punto di partenza per qualsiasi auspicabile lavoro catalografico sulla collezione in questione ed anch’esso indispensabile per il lavoro curatoriale e di conservazione, specie al fronte dei vari spostamenti cui la collezione è stata sottoposta negli anni. 177 178 Lettera di Jeremy Montagu a Kirby, 20 aprile 1969. Ibid. 38 Capitolo IV - La collezione nel presente Da Johannesburg a Città del Capo Dopo la morte di Kirby, la figlia Nan Parnell si occupò della collezione secondo le disposizioni dettate dal padre. Da una lettera del 1975 apprendiamo che stava provando a vendere ciò che definiva “a fantastic assortment of books and musical material” del padre ad alcune istituzioni tra cui il City Council di Johannesburg. Le richieste di Kirby di destinare certe sezioni manoscritte della sua ricerca ad alcune istituzioni specifiche furono rispettate. Per il resto, Kirby lasciò alla famiglia la totale libertà di decidere. I libri furono donati o venduti al Rhodes University’s English Department, alla Rhodes University Library ed alla University of South Africa. Ephemera e manoscritti, inclusi spartiti musicali, andarono alla Wits Library; la sua libreria musicale alla UCT, alla Johannesburg Public Library, alla Strange Collection dell’Africana Museum e al South African Museum, Cape Town. 400 volumi concernenti la storia del Sud Africa furono venduti. La famiglia tenne la corrispondenza e documenti che costituivano soprattutto materiale biografico, molte fotografie, centinaia di articoli di giornale. Parnell decise di riservare il diritto di accesso alla corrispondenza del padre per la natura riservata e confidenziale di tali lettere;179 tuttavia è sempre stata disponibile a cooperare per scopi biografici o informativi. Tenne inoltre per sé il materiale etnomusicologico del padre, ad eccezione della parte di esso donata alla UCT con l’acquisto del “museo”. Una serie di pubblicazioni e altri documenti si trovano attualmente presso il Manuscripts & Archives, UCT, in quanto Parnell decise di mettere insieme alcuni materiali di natura etnomusicologica che secondo lei dovevano accompagnare la collezione di strumenti musicali a scopo di studio e ulteriore ricerca.180 Nel 1981 l’Africana Museum stava per essere spostato dall’edificio della Biblioteca, così venne indicata a Parnell una data entro la quale avrebbe dovuto decidere se acconsentire allo spostamento della collezione nella nuova struttura di Old Market, che aveva un soffitto tanto sottile che faceva sì che l’ambiente diventasse estremamente caldo d’estate e freddo d’inverno. Così portò il Prof. Brian Priestman, Direttore del South African College of Music, il quale conosceva molto bene la collezione, a vedere la nuova sistemazione proposta dall’Africana Museum, la quale gli apparve assolutamente inadatta alla conservazione di tale patrimonio.181 All’inizio, Parnell propose la vendita della collezione al City Council di Johannesburg, che dopo una lunga attesa si ritirò dalle trattative; contattò poi Anton Hartman, Professore di Musica presso l’Università del Witwatersrand, il quale rifiutò di prendere la collezione a Wits per mancanza di spazio e di una persona che si potesse occupare della sua conservazione.182 Pensando, come a suo tempo aveva fatto Kirby, che nessuno in Sudafrica avrebbe preso la collezione, Parnell si rivolse infine all’estero e ricevette un paio di buone proposte, tra cui quella del Smithsonian Institute di Washington DC. Nel frattempo Priestman, deciso a non far uscire la collezione dal Paese, parlò al vice cancelliere dell’Università, Dr. Stewart Saunders, e insistette affinché l’Università comprasse la collezione. Quando la UCT avanzò la sua proposta, la famiglia Kirby fu ben lieta di tenere la collezione nel Paese e la vendette per 100.000 Rand; la famiglia fece anche una donazione all’Università di Città del Capo per stabilire un dipartimento di etnomusicologia e una borsa di studio in etnomusicologia all’Università, e venne chiesto di assumere un etnomusicologo come insegnante. Nan Parnell divenne una frequentatrice abituale del College e usò dare circa quattro lezioni all’anno presso il nuovo dipartimento 179 Nixon 2014: 220. Nixon, c.p., 27/11/2017. 181 Lettera di Nan Parnell a Alex Grey, 26 agosto 1985. 182 Ibid. 180 39 di etnomusicologia, durante le quali faceva suonare gli strumenti agli studenti, motivo per cui molti esemplari sono oggi danneggiati.183 In una lettera del 1985, Parnell esprime il suo entusiasmo per le condizioni sotto le quali la collezione di suo padre era conservata presso il SACM: [Priestman] wanted to do with it precisely what I had been angling for: i.e. I wanted to place [the collection] in the hands of real scholars who would develop it and use it, so that it would not be a mere dead museum exhibit, deteriorating from year to year. He was anxious to establish a department of ethnomusicology, and this would form a base. We agreed on the price and I said I would return about one third of this sum for the establishment of a memorial scholarship for post-graduate research. The official opening of the Kirby Collection at U.C.T. took place in 1983 and it was opened by Chief Gatsha Buthelezi, at a most lively function with much indigenous song and dance, and playing on a variety of instruments. […] I was happy to accept that UCT were not only prepared to appoint a full-time Lecturer/Director for it, but also to find a suitable place for it. They actually knocked two large lecture-rooms in the beautiful old part of the College of Music into one huge room, and had it redecorated, complete with friezes of African designs, designed by Cecil Skotnes, all round the walls. […] An assistant curator was appointed, and although he is not an academic, but more of a technician, he is very good at playing the instruments and also repairing them. And there is also the Kirby Memorial Post Graduate Scholar.184 Il Prof. Michael Nixon, curatore in carica dal 2004, descrive la situazione della collezione alla fine degli anni ’90 come “deprimente”.185 Nei primi anni in cui la collezione si trovò a Città del Capo gli strumenti erano legati con del fil di ferro e appesi al muro; molti erano fissati con gommini adesivi di colore bianco-grigio (prodotti dall’azienda sudafricana Bostik con il nome di Prestik) che hanno talvolta lasciato aloni oleosi sugli strumenti su cui erano stati applicati. Gli strumenti erano tra l’altro coperti di muffa. Nel 1999 iniziò una nuova era per la collezione: fu pubblicato un annuncio per trovare un etnomusicologo che facesse un resoconto sulle condizioni degli strumenti e scrivesse un inventario. Per questo lavoro fu assunta June Hosford, all’epoca curatrice degli Iziko Museums. In questa occasione, oltre al lavoro di documentazione, furono tolti tutti gli strumenti dalle pareti in preparazione di un rinnovamento. L’Università ricevette dei soldi da destinare al lavoro di conservazione sugli strumenti e alla realizzazione di una nuova esibizione che includesse anche la costruzione di duplicati di alcuni esemplari. Per questo progetto fu scritta una proposta da parte di Deidre Hansen, insegnante di etnomusicologia e primo curatore della Kirby Collection, ed altri, che includeva tra le altre cose il progetto di scattare fotografie e realizzare un database.186 Jos Thorne, architetto specializzato in exhibition design, fece delle fotografie di riferimento per ogni singolo strumento e prese le misure dal catalogo di De Lange (1967) per pianificare una disposizione che lasciasse spazio ad ogni strumento. La struttura ospitante doveva necessariamente rimanere intatta e inalterata in quanto edificio storico. Prima di essere acquistato dall’Università di Città del Capo, l’edificio apparteneva ad un uomo molto benestante che si era arricchito nel business dei trasporti, 183 Nixon c.p. 23/11/2017. Lettera di Nan Parnell a Alex Grey, 26 agosto 1985. 185 Nixon, c.p., 23/11/2017. 186 Nixon, c.p., 23/11/2017. 184 40 realizzando trasferimenti dal porto di Durban al nord del Paese con carri trainati da buoi. Prima di ospitare la collezione di Kirby, la stanza, ricavata da due aule più piccole, era usata per concerti e lezioni.187 L’idea di Thorne fu fin da subito quella dell’open storage, con cassettoni scorrevoli che potevano facilmente essere aperti e che allo stesso tempo permettessero di ottiFigura IV. Xylophone Platform mizzare il poco spazio a disposizione; e delle piattaforme riservate agli oggetti più grandi. Thorne voleva inserire anche delle mensole o cassetti compatti in cui poter riporre delle copie di strumenti ad uso dei visitatori. Si voleva inoltre rendere l’ambiente il più luminoso possibile, specialmente perché la gran parte del materiale esposto, essendo costituito da strumenti africani, era di natura organica e l’uso delle luci artificiali, così come l’esposizione alla luce naturale, dovevano essere in qualche modo ridotti. Il denaro a disposizione era tuttavia limitato. Furono spesi più di un milione di Rand per l’esibizione e i fondi terminarono diverse volte, rendendo il processo più lungo. Sul bilancio economico gravò anche la condizione degradata di parte dello spazio di esposizione. Per esempio, dove ora si trova la piattaforma in cui è esposta la spinetta (Figura V) il pavimento era marcio, così come nell’angolo a sinistra della piattaforma degli xilofoni (Figura IV), e questo rese necessaria la sostituzione del pavimento. Per sei mesi si misero in azione tre deumidificatori senza sosta. I pannelli del soffitto arrivarono dall’Inghilterra, progettati da Strubenheim, – architetto di famiglia tedesca che cambiò il nome nel più inglesizzante Strubehn-holm a causa del ruolo della Germania nel conflitto mondiale – e realizzati prima della Seconda Guerra Mondiale. Anche il gesso usato per il soffitto veniva dall’Inghilterra ed era più elegante di quello presente attualmente.188 Figura V. Harp Platform Figura VI. Aerophone Cabinet 187 188 Nixon, c.p., 23/11/2017. Nixon, c.p., 23/11/2017. 41 Michael Nixon arrivò al SACM nel 2004 come curatore e allo stesso tempo insegnante part-time, e venne da subito incaricato di “sistemare” la situazione. 189 In generale, era molto il lavoro che il conservatore non poteva fare sugli strumenti, così questi furono portati nel 2005 da un costruttore che si intendeva di strumenti africani e che nell’intervenire prese una serie di precauzioni, quali l’utilizzo di una colla solubile. Ci vollero poi tre mesi per scegliere il colore delle pareti che sostituisse il color zucca precedentemente presente, il quale era illuminato da luci al neon; si optò per un color bianco sporco, scelta dettata anche dalla necessità di tenere bassa la temperatura all’interno della stanza. Infine, le luci al neon vennero eliminate così come i vecchi mobili. Jeremy Montagu, che aveva ricevuto da Kirby stesso il catalogo compilato da De Lange (1967), ne fornì una copia a Nixon in quanto l’Università non ne possedeva. Gli studenti del College furono coinvolti in un progetto che includeva il lavoro con gli strumenti della collezione; tuttavia il corso di “Acoustic and Organology” tenuto dal prof. Monnair non durò a lungo e il lavoro sugli strumenti fu ancora una volta abbandonato. La collezione ha comunque sempre attratto visitatori, soprattutto classi scolastiche, ma ha anche attirato l’attenzione di molti appassionati arrivati da varie parti del mondo. Al momento, non avendo uno staff ad essa dedicato, la collezione è visitabile solo su richiesta durante gli orari di apertura del dipartimento ospitante. Figura VIII “The crucifix had to be there, with the big drum, which came from the same area. The crucifix was made by a very famous sculptor and it looks like a bird flying up; it is the most beautiful among the artwork collection of the university.” (Nixon, p.c., 27/11/2017) 189 Nixon, c.p., 23/11/2017. 42 PARTE II CATALOGO CATALOGUE 43 44 Introduzione al catalogo Introduction to the catalogue Guida alle schede Guide to the Records Le schede sono state redatte principalmente sul modello dei cataloghi della Collezione Granducale del Conservatorio Cherubini di Firenze (Faletti, Rossi Rognoni, Meucci 2001), del Museo degli Strumenti Musicali del Castello Sforzesco di Milano (Gatti 1998), del Museo Civico Medievale di Bologna (Van der Meer 1993) e della Collezione Giulini di Milano (Van der Meer 2006). Sono tuttavia stati considerati ed ampiamente consultati anche i cataloghi del Victoria and Albert Museum di Londra (Baines 1968), della Hill Collection dell’Ashmolean Museum di Oxford (Boyden 1969), del Museo Nazionale delle Arti e Tradizioni Popolari di Roma (Simeoni, Tucci 1991), e della Stearns Collection of Musical Instruments dell’Università del Michigan (Staney 1921). The records have been drafted on the model of the catalogues of the Collezione Granducale del Conservatorio Cherubini of Florence (Faletti, Rossi Rognoni, Meucci 2001), of the Museo degli Strumenti Musicali del Castello Sforzesco of Milan (Gatti 1998), of the Museo Civico Medievale of Bologna (Van der Meer 1993) and of the Collezione Giulini, Milan (Van der Meer 2006). Nevertheless, further catalogues have been considered and widely consulted: those of the Victoria and Albert Museum of London (Baines 1968), of the Hill Collection of the Ashmolean Museum of Oxford (Boyden 1969), of the Museo Nazionale delle Arti e Tradizioni Popolari of Rome (Simeoni, Tucci 1991), and of the Stearns Collection of Musical Instruments of the University of Michigan (Staney 1921). Gli strumenti musicali europei della Kirby Collection rientrano in quattro delle categorie del sistema di classificazione Hornbostel-Sachs,190 in cui gli strumenti sono classificati in base alla natura del materiale che produce il suono. Nel presente catalogo essi sono illustrati secondo tale schema all’interno delle macro-categorie di idiofoni, membranofoni, cordofoni e aerofoni. The European musical instruments of the Kirby Collection fall into four categories of the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, 193 in which the instruments are classified according to the nature of the sound-producing material. In the present catalogue, they are illustrated according to this principle in the macro-categories of idiophones, membranophones, chordophones and aerophones. Ogni scheda si articola nei seguenti punti principali: Each record is structured in the following main entries: • Definizione dell’oggetto e assegnazione del codice di classificazione Hornbostel-Sachs, alla luce della revisione del Consorzio MIMO (2011). • Definition of the item and assignment of the Hornbostel-Sachs classification number, after the revision by the MIMO Consortium (2011). • Attribuzione attuale, vale a dire, quando identificabile: costruttore, datazione, luogo. Data la scarsezza della documentazione fornita da Kirby riguardo quello che doveva essere un gruppo di strumenti di trascurabile importanza a confronto con il resto della collezione, l’attribuzione è avvenuta principalmente a partire dall’analisi di marchi e/o altre iscrizioni presenti sullo strumento stesso. Fondamentale dunque è stato il confronto di indizi quali indirizzi, date di premi e esposizioni, titoli acquisiti dal costruttore, riportati in marchi, • Current attribution, that is to say, wherever identifiable: instrument maker, date, place. Due to the paucity of documentation provided by Kirby concerning a group of instruments which was considered to be of minor importance in comparison with the rest of the collection, the attribution has been inferred from the analysis of the trademarks and/or further inscriptions on the instrument. Fundamental for this scope has been the comparison of information such as address, dates of prizes and exhibitions, titles acquired by 190 Pubblicato per la prima volta in E.M. von Hornbostel, C. Sachs, Systematik der Musikinstrumente: ein Versuch, 1914. 193 First published in E.M. von Hornbostel, C. Sachs, Systematik der Musikinstrumente: ein Versuch, 1914. 45 etichette, incisioni, etc., o di particolari caratteristiche dei marchi stessi, con dizionari e monografie quali il Dictionnaire universel des luthiers (Vannes 1988), The new Langwill index: a dictionary of musical wind-instrument makers and inventors (Waterhouse 1993), Die Geigen und Lautenmacher (Lütgendorff 1922; 1990), Les facteurs d’instruments de musique à Paris au XIXe siècle (Haine 1985) e Ruckers, A harpsichord and virginal building tradition (O’Brien 1990). the maker, quoted in trademarks, labels, inscriptions, etc. as well as characteristic details of the trademarks themselves, with dictionaries and monographs such as the Dictionnaire universel des luthiers (Vannes 1988), The new Langwill index: a dictionary of musical wind-instrument makers and inventors (Waterhouse 1993), Die Geigen und Lautenmacher (Lütgendorff 1922; 1990), Les facteurs d’instruments de musique à Paris au XIXe siècle (Haine 1985) and Ruckers, A harpsichord and virginal building tradition (O’Brien 1990). • Numero di inventario e collocazione nell’esposizione alla data del 31 dicembre 2017. I numeri di inventario sono stati mantenuti dal S.A. College of Music di Città del Capo tali e quali a quelli con cui la collezione era stata catalogata presso l’Africana Museum di Johannesburg. 191 Questi prevedono la presenza di tre cifre cui sono anteposte le lettere K, KK o KG. Ad oggi, il motivo della scelta di tali lettere rimane sconosciuto. • Inventory number and location in the exhibition at the date of December 31, 2017. The inventory numbers assigned by the Africana Museum of Johannesburg have been maintained unchanged by the S.A. College of Music of Cape Town.194 The inventory numbers consist of the letters K, KK or KG followed by three-digit numbers. To date, the reason for the choice of these letters remains unknown. • Descrizione di firma, marchi e iscrizioni. Questi sono riportati per intero con trascrizione diplomatica, rispettando maiuscole, minuscole, corsivo, sottolineature, indicando gli “a capo” con “/” e racchiudendo eventuali aggiunte tra parentesi quadre. • Description of signature, trademarks and inscriptions. These are entirely reported with diplomatic transcription, respecting upper- and lower-case letters, italic and underlining, using “/” to indicate new lines and enclosing inferred additions in square brackets. • Descrizione delle caratteristiche fisiche dell’oggetto e dei suoi componenti allo stato attuale. Sono fornite anche alcune precisazioni sulla costruzione, sulla meccanica e il suo funzionamento, nonché sulla incordatura ed estensione (cordofoni), taglia e tonalità (aerofoni), quando queste siano rilevabili. Quando un accessorio (e.g. ritorte, bocchini, custodie, etc.) è dotato di numero di inventario proprio ma si è certi della sua appartenenza ad un dato strumento, esso è trattato nella stessa scheda dello strumento associato. Le definizioni destra e sinistra corrispondono al punto di vista dell’osservatore, se non diversamente specificato. Nel caso di prodotti di liuteria lo strumento viene guardato con la tavola di fronte e il fondo dietro. Per lo xilofono, l’arpa, la spinetta e l’ocarina il punto di osservazione coincide con quello dell’esecutore. • Description of the physical characteristics of the item and its accessories at their present state. Specifications on the construction, on the mechanism and its functions, on the stringing and the compass (chordophones), on the size and pitch (aerophones) will be also provided, whenever detectable. In case an accessory (e.g. crooks, mouthpieces, cases, etc.) is provided with its own inventory number, but its belonging to a specific instrument is certain, it is dealt with in the same record of the associated instrument. The right and left definitions correspond to the observer’s point of view, unless otherwise indicated. For lutherie products the instrument is observed facing the soundboard, the back behind. In the case of the xylophone, the harp, the virginal and the ocarina the observer’s point of view corresponds to that of the player. L’unica modifica apportata dal S.A. College of Music è stata quella di anteporre due o uno 0 ai numeri ad una o due cifre. 194 The only change introduced by the S.A. College of Music has been that of putting two or one 0 before one- or two-digit numbers. 191 46 Per la nomenclatura delle note è stato adottato il sistema anglosassone in cui c' corrisponde al do centrale (Do3), ed a' (La3) corrisponde, se non indicato diversamente, a 440Hz. In realtà la definizione di diapason (pitch) è ben più complessa. Se negli strumenti a corde il suo valore non influisce particolarmente su dimensioni e caratteristiche costruttive, per i fiati il suo variare di zona in zona e di epoca in epoca è riscontrabile dal confronto delle lunghezze acustiche di vari strumenti di tonalità uguale. La Kirby Collection presenta prevalentemente aerofoni costruiti in Francia, Inghilterra e Germania durante il diciannovesimo secolo, e ciò ci permette di generalizzare in questa sede fornendo qualche dato storico riguardante il tentativo di standardizzare la frequenza del diapason in Europa. In alcune zone della Germania settentrionale, La3= 415Hz fu la norma almeno fino al 1832. Nel 1859 in Francia una commissione nominata dal Governo stabilì lo standard La3= 435Hz come compromesso tra 422Hz e 450Hz, entrambe in uso all’epoca. Nel secondo terzo del secolo a Vienna il La3 corrispondeva solitamente a 430–435Hz. In Inghilterra il cosiddetto “Old Philharmonic Pitch” in cui La3= 452Hz, in uso in età Vittoriana, perdurò per alcuni decenni dopo l’introduzione del “New Philharmonic Pitch” in cui La3= 439Hz. Solo nel 1939, all’incontro della International Standardizing Organization a Londra fu raggiunto un accordo su uno standard universale in cui La3 corrispondeva a 440Hz.192 Nel caso di strumenti accompagnati da ritorti o con canneggio estendibile, la tonalità è indicata in riferimento alla nota fondamentale prodotta dallo strumento senza l’uso degli accessori, eventualmente seguita dalla nota più bassa raggiungibile per mezzo di essi. In genere la tonalità degli strumenti a fiato è stata determinata facendo riferimento alle tabelle fornite da Baines (1991: 60 (flauti traversi), 74 (flauti diritti), 125 (clarinetti); 1976, trad. it.: 8 (ottoni). The adopted system for the nomenclature of the notes is the Anglo-Saxon designation, in which c' corresponds to the middle C, and a' corresponds to 440Hz, unless otherwise indicated. Actually, the definition of pitch is far more complex. Whilst its value does not particularly affect the dimensions and the constructive features of the string instruments, its fluctuation from place to place and from century to century is more evident through the comparison of sounding lengths of various wind instruments which have the same nominal pitch. As the Kirby Collection offers predominantly wind instruments from France, England and Germany, made during the 19th century, we can herein generalise in supplying some historical data concerning the attempts to establish a standardised pitch in Europe. In some parts of northern Germany, a'= 415Hz remained the standard until at least 1832. In France, a government commission promulgated the standard pitch of a'= 435Hz in 1859, as a compromise between 422Hz and 450Hz, both used at that time. By the second third of the century in Vienna the most common pitch was a'=430-435Hz. In England, the Old Philharmonic Pitch of a′ = 452Hz, common in the Victorian Age, endured a few decades after 1896, when the New Philharmonic Pitch of a'= 439Hz was introduced. Only in 1939 an agreement on a universal standard pitch of a'= 440Hz was found at the International Standardizing Organization meeting in London. In the case of instruments with assorted crooks or with extendible tubing, the pitch refers to the fundamental note that can be produced without the accessory; the lowest note obtainable through the use of the accessories will eventually follow. The pitch of the wind instruments has been generally determined by reference to the tables provided by Baines (1991: 60 (transverse flutes), 74 (recorders), 125 (clarinets); 1976 trad. it.: 8 (brass instruments). • Stato di conservazione: descrive danni, riparazioni, sostituzioni e inferenze riguardo possibili o ovvi interventi da parte di terzi. • State of preservation: it deals with damages, restorations, replacements and deductions on possible or evident third-party interventions. • Misure. Le dimensioni sono indicate in mm e di regola approssimate al decimo di millimetro nel caso di dimensioni comprese tra 0,1mm e 140,0mm, in quanto rilevate con un calibro il cui campo di misura corrisponde a tale intervallo; per dimensioni superiori sono stati usati un metro da • Measurements. The dimensions are indicated in mm and normally rounded to the nearest tenth of a millimetre for dimensions between 0.1mm and 140.0mm, as they have been measured with a calliper whose measuring range corresponds to that interval; for larger dimensions a measuring 192 B. Haynes, P. Cooke, “Pitch”, 2001, in Oxford Music Online; Cavanagh n.d. 47 - - - - sarto ed un righello metrico a seconda delle esigenze e si è approssimato al millimetro. Nei casi in cui la misurazione è approssimativa, a tale indicazione viene preposta una c. Questo accade in particolare per le misure di parti curve o difficilmente accessibili. Nel riportare le misurazioni rilevate sono stati utilizzati i seguenti simboli: - tra due cifre: sono prese due misure nell’ambito di una linea continua della quale sono rilevate le misure massima e minima; / tra due cifre: indica un’interruzione di continuità tra le due misure, per esempio tra misure presenti tanto sulla destra quanto sulla sinistra, o sul davanti e sul retro. È usato altresì per gli strumenti a fiato per la divisione tra le dimensioni dei fori, per i cordofoni per la divisione tra le lunghezze delle corde. Quando elementi uguali sono disposti in serie, le loro misure vengono riportate dal più alto verso il basso (e.g. sportelli delle arpe); i fori degli strumenti a fiato sono misurati secondo l’ordine PS/I/II/III/MS/PD/IV/V/VI/MD; le misure relative ai fori doppi sono separate dal simbolo + e presentate secondo l’ordine sinistro+destro. - : indica una misura non rilevata per motivi logici quali assenza di pezzi, impossibilità di raggiungere il punto della misurazione o l’inadeguatezza dello strumento di misurazione a disposizione; ø : diametro; x tra due cifre: separa il raggio longitudinale e quello trasversale di una forma ellittica o comunque non perfettamente circolare. - tape and a metric ruler have been used according to the needs and the resulting measures have been rounded to the millimetre. The approximated dimensions are preceded by a c. This occurs particularly in the measurements of curved or hardly accessible parts. In reporting the measured dimensions, the following symbols have been used: - between two numbers: indicates two dimensions taken in a straight line, of which the maximum and minimum dimensions are reported; / between two numbers: indicates an interruption to the continuity of the two dimensions, for instance between dimensions taken both on the right and on the left, or on the front and on the back. It is also used to separate the fingerholes’ dimensions of the wind instruments, and the strings’ lengths of the chordophones. Wherever alike elements are arranged in series, their dimensions are reported from the highest downwards (e.g. the harp’s swells); the dimensions of the wind instruments’ fingerholes follow the order LTH./I/II/III/LLF/RTH./IV/V/VI/RLF; the dimensions of split holes are separated by the symbol + and follow the order left+right. - : indicates a dimension which cannot be taken for logical reasons, such as the absence of one or more parts, inaccessibility of the point to be measured, unsuitableness of the available measuring tools. ø: diameter; x between two numbers: separates the longitudinal and the transversal radius of an elliptical or not perfectly circular form. • Documentazione storica: comprende la trascrizione di documenti pertinenti riguardanti uno specifico strumento. Tutti gli strumenti che compaiono nel presente catalogo sono stati registrati nel registro dell’Africana Museum di Johannesburg e tutti sono stati restituiti a Nan Parnell, figlia del Prof. Kirby, nel 1981, in vista di una riallocazione. Ciò comporta che nel suddetto registro compaia per ogni scheda la dicitura “Returned to Lender / October 1981” che, al fine di evitare ripetizioni, non verrà riportata a meno che essa presenti informazioni aggiuntive. • Historical documentation: comprises the transcription of relevant documents concerning a specific instrument. All the specimens dealt with in this catalogue have been registered in the Africana Museum of Johannesburg Register and have all been given back to Nan Parnell, Prof. Kirby’s daughter, in 1981, in view of a reallocation. This implies that in the afore-mentioned register occurs for each record the wording: “Returned to Lender / October 1981”, which will not be reported in order to avoid repetitions, unless it contains additional information. • Ulteriori commenti: questa sezione riferisce ulteriori informazioni sulla storia e talvolta sull’innovazione tecnologica illustrata dallo specifico strumento, così come riferimenti al costruttore e alla sua attività; informazioni sulle modalità di acquisizione dell’oggetto da parte del collezionista e • Further comments: this entry refers further information about the history and sometimes the technological innovation illustrated by the specific instrument, as well as references about the maker and its firm; information about the acquisition of the item by the collector and 48 del suo eventuale uso in sede accademica o esecutiva. Quando ritenuto pertinente vengono fornite qui anche le ragioni della scelta di una precisa datazione con riferimenti ai documenti bio- e bibliografici sul costruttore e/o donatore. Anche informazioni discordanti vengono discusse in questa sezione. eventually about its use in academic or performative occasions. Wherever relevant, the reasons for a specific dating are here explained, with reference to bio- and bibliographical documents about the maker and/or donor. Discordant data are also discussed in this section. • Bibliografia: consiste nella bibliografia di riferimento su tutto ciò che viene ritenuto pertinente per una adeguata comprensione dell’oggetto schedato: vale a dire non solo in relazione alla storia del singolo strumento, ma anche alle caratteristiche costruttive proprie dell’epoca e del luogo di origine, nonché ai soggetti coinvolti – collezionista, costruttore, donatore/venditore. Qualora il confronto con strumenti presenti in altre collezioni sia stato utile all’indagine dello strumento in questione, questi verranno qui riportati come oggetti affini. • References: it consists of the bibliography concerning all it is considered relevant for an appropriate comprehension of the recorded item: not only concerning the history of the single instrument, but also relating to constructive features typical of its epoch and place of origin, to the involved persons – collector, maker, donor/seller. Wherever the comparison with instruments housed in other collections has been fruitful for the investigation of the concerned instrument, they are herein referred as related objects. Ad ogni strumento è stato assegnato, oltre al suo numero di inventario, un numero corrispondente a una scheda del catalogo. Le fotografie nelle tavole alla fine del catalogo sono numerate in modo da corrispondere a tali numeri. Un indice è qui fornito al fine di rendere più agevole la ricerca delle schede a partire dal numero di inventario (tabella II). Le fotografie sono state scattate dal fotografo Sean Wilson e sono proprietà della UCT (© Kirby Collection, UCT). Each instrument has been given, beside its accession number, a number corresponding to a record of the catalogue. The pictures in the plates at the end of the catalogue are numbered to correspond. An index is herein provided in order to make the research of the records from the accession number easier (Table II). The pictures have been taken by the photographer Sean Wilson and are property of the UCT (© Kirby Collection, UCT). Ulteriori specifiche relative alle misure: Further specifications related to the measurements: Chordophones: The vibrating length of the strings of the instruments with movable or absent bridge is never reported, although in some cases it can be estimated on the base of the measured data. The overall length of the lute has been taken from the nut to the base. The length of the neck of the harps has been measured both along its curve, shoulder included, and in a straight line, from the neck-pillar joint to the point where the neck meets the soundboard. Aerophones: In case of a body built in more joints, the dimensions of the single joints are reported, tenons excluded. In the section of the transverse flutes, the sounding length has been taken from the centre of the mouth-hole to the exit of the instrument. The sounding length of the duct flutes goes from the block-line to the exit of the instrument. The Cordofoni: La lunghezza vibrante delle corde di strumenti con ponticello mobile o assente non viene mai indicata, sebbene in alcuni casi sia possibile farne una stima a partire dai dati rilevati. Per il liuto la lunghezza d’ingombro è stata rilevata dal capotasto alla base. Per le arpe la lunghezza del modiglione è stata presa sia lungo la sua curva, includendo la spalla, sia in linea retta, dal punto in cui la spalla si unisce alla cassa armonica al punto in cui il modiglione si unisce al capitello della colonna. Aerofoni: Nel caso di un corpo formato da più pezzi vengono riportate le misure delle parti singole esclusi tenoni. Nella sezione dei flauti traversi la misura della lunghezza acustica va dal centro del foro di insufflazione fino all’uscita dello strumento. La lunghezza acustica dei flauti diritti è rilevata a partire dalla linea d’uscita del blocco fino all’uscita 49 - - head’s sounding length has been measured from the block-line to the head’s exit. The windway length goes from the outer rim of the beak to the block-line. The lengths of the clarinets never include the mouthpieces. The length of the mouthpieces excludes the tenon. The tubing length of the instruments with bend body is calculated on the basis of the arithmetic mean of the lengths taken externally along the outer and inner curves, and the height from the point where the bell separates from the coils or where the tube’s diameter starts to broaden, to the bell’s exit. The flaring length of the brass instruments has been measured externally from the point where the tube starts to broaden to the bell’s exit. The crooks’ length excludes the tract which is telescoped in the mouthpipe and does not affect the tubing length; the length of this tract is enclosed in round brackets, preceded by the symbol +. The number of the keys corresponds to that of the operated holes. In the section of the clarinets, the keys are named after the fundamental note generated by them and based on the notation system conventionally used for transposing instruments, so that the fingering for an instrument in C corresponds to that for an instrument in B♭, E♭, etc., whereas the actual pitch of the sound generated by them is indicated in brackets. dello strumento. La lunghezza acustica della testa è rilevata a partire dalla linea d’uscita del blocco fino all’estremità inferiore della testa. La lunghezza di insufflazione va dal bordo esterno del becco alla linea d’uscita del blocco. Nei clarinetti, le lunghezze sono state prese escludendo il bocchino. Per i bocchini non viene considerato il tenone. Sugli strumenti con corpo ripiegato, la lunghezza del canneggio è stata calcolata a partire dalla media aritmetica delle misurazioni effettuate all’esterno lungo le curve interna ed esterna, e l’altezza dal punto in cui la campana si disgiunge dalle spire o in cui il diametro interno del tubo inizia ad allargarsi e fino all’uscita della campana. Per gli ottoni la lunghezza della svasatura è stata misurata esternamente dal punto in cui inizia l’allargamento della cameratura interna e fino all’uscita della campana. La lunghezza delle ritorte esclude il tratto che si inserisce nel tubo e che dunque non influisce sulla lunghezza del canneggio; la lunghezza di tale parte è riportata tra parentesi, preceduta dal simbolo +. Il numero di chiavi è considerato in base ai fori. Nella sezione dei clarinetti le chiavi sono denominate secondo la nota fondamentale che esse generano ed in base al sistema di notazione usato convenzionalmente per gli strumenti traspositori, cosicché la diteggiatura su uno strumento in Do corrisponde a quella su uno strumento in B♭, E♭, etc., mentre la nota reale generata da esse è riportata tra parentesi. Tabella delle misurazioni e abbreviazioni Table of measurements and abbreviations Overall l. L. W. H. Th. D. Min. Max. Longit. Transv. L.H. LTH I II III LLF Lunghezza d’ingombro Lunghezza Larghezza Altezza Spessore Profondità Minimo/a Massimo/a Longitudinale Trasversale Diteggiatura Mano sinistra Pollice sinistro (PS) Indice sinistro Medio sinistro Anulare sinistro Mignolo sinistro (MS) 50 Overall length Length Width Height Thickness Depth Minimum Maximum Longitudinal Transversal Fingering Left hand Left thumb Left forefinger Left middle finger Left third finger Left little finger R. H. RTH IV V VI RLF Mano destra Police destro (PD) Indice destro Medio destro Anulare destro Mignolo destro (MD) Right hand Right thumb Right forefinger Right middle finger Right third finger Right little finger Tabella II Table II Numero di inventario/ Inventory number 5271284 KG006 KG011 KG012 KG013, KG014 KG015 KG021, KG016, KG017, KG018, KG019, KG020a, KG020b KG022 KG026 KG028, KG023a-d KG029 KG030 KG032 KG033 KG044a-b KG044c KG045 KG046 KG047 KG063 KG065 KG066 KG067 KG069 KG070 KG071 KG072 KG074 KG075 KG076 KG079 KG082 KG083 KG084 KG095 KG096 KG097 KG098 KG099 KG120-KG121 KG122-KG123 KG124 Numero scheda/Record number 5 52 58 53 63 14 59 Tavola/Plate I X XI X XII IV XI 61 55 62 56 57 12 11 46 47 50 48 51 21 24 25 31 28 27 29 30 12 33 26 41 40 38 39 19 16 18 20 22 9 8 4 XII X XII X XI III III IX IX IX IX IX V V V VI VI VI VI VI III VI VII VIII VIII VIII VIII V V V V V II II I 51 KG126 KG132 KG137 KG138 KG139 KG141 KG145 KG147 KG149 KG151 KG152 KG154 KG158, KG159, KG160, KG161 KG172 KG176 KG177 KG178 KG180 KG198 KG206 KK062 KK063-KK064 KK174 15 17 32 54 60 49 13 45 42 43 44 10 6 1 35 36 34 37 23 64 2 3 7 52 IV V VI X XII IX III VII VII VII VII III I I VII VII VII VIII V X I I I Idiophones The section which deals with Idiophones refers mainly to popular and folk musical practices rather than the so-called art music, although all these sorts of instruments have occasionally been chosen by wellknown composers for orchestral works. To the concussion sub-category – all those instruments which are made to vibrate by the player by directly striking the instrument’s complementary sonorous parts against each other – belong four pairs of castanets, all from the Iberian Peninsula, two of which coupled in a set to be played with either hand by the same player. A four-rows xylophone with its beaters, made by Kirby from an unidentified instrument, probably Londoner, represents the sub-class of the percussion idiophones, which includes instruments which are struck either against or, as in this specific case, with a non-sonorous object, such as the beaters. This particular type of xylophone is an old European form, in use in orchestras before the adoption of the present form, and differs from most of the xylophones of the Southern African tradition (widely represented in the Kirby Collection) for the absence of resonators. A cog rattle joins the group of the indirectly struck idiophones, in which the percussion results directly through some other movement by the player. A set of four handbells belongs to the sub-category of clapper bells and illustrates the lasting tradition of the Western handbell music, specifically the English art of “Change ringing”. The last instrument of this section needs a further clarification, as its classification into the Hornbostel-Sachs System has been reconsidered by many. The jew’s harp has indeed a complex soundproducing system which has been associated for a long time with that of the plucked idiophones (or lamellophones). However, several scholars have pointed out its similarities with the sound production of the free reed (Hornbostel-Sachs classification number: 412.13), thus considering the jew’s harp rather as an aerophone. 195 The specimen included in the Kirby Collection has been herein kept into the “traditional” classification system class, although in the view of the collection in its entirety, it might be more appropriate to place such instrument together with the reed-flute ensembles, in order to emphasise the affinity with some instruments of the native people as well as the reason why the jew’s harp, among other inexpensive European musical instruments, has in some cases supplanted the natives’ own.196 1. Castanets Hornbostel-Sachs number: 111.141 Unidentified Unknown Idiophones 03 Inv. KG172 No mark Description: One pair castanets of polished dark wood, consisting of two near-identical matching shells, carved and with not-deep hollows. The outer shape of each shell is convex and pointy, hav195 196 ing a ridge along the length extending from an arrow-shaped raised part. At the end of the raised part the shells have a protruding flange, of one piece of wood, which has two holes for the brown cord which strings the shells together, the hollows being in contact with each other. The two extremities of the cord are knotted together, forming a loop. In the Spanish playing style, the cord is twice looped over the thumb, with the knot towards the player, and the two plates J. Wright, “Jew’s harp”, 2001, in Grove Music Online. Kirby 1967: 257-9. 53 click together by manipulation of the fingers. A tongue between the two shells is fixed at one end to the lower shell by a larger and a smaller pin, thus facilitating playing by returning the opposing shell back to the rest position. State of preservation: Generally good condition. Signs of oxidation are present on the tongue. Measurements: Shells: l.: 72.0mm; max.-min. w.: 45.3-19.7mm; max. h.: 22.3mm. Hollows: ø: c36mm; d.: 5.5mm. Flanges: w.: 39.4mm; h.: 7.4mm. Tongue: l.: 8.9mm; w.: 3.0mm. Cord: l. (knots included): c 45mm; th.: 2,1mm. References: Baines 1992: 50-1; Blades 1984: 386-8; De Lange 1967: 92; Faletti, Meucci, Rossi Rognoni 2001: 228; Simeoni, Tucci 1991: 76-83. 2. Castanets Hornbostel-Sachs number: 111.141 Unidentified Iberian Peninsula Idiophones 03 Inv. KK062 No mark Description: One pair castanets of polished wood, consisting of two nearidentical and matching shells, carved and hollowed out. The outer shape of each shell is convex. At the top, each shell ends with a shield-shaped protruding flange (one being about 1mm larger than the other), carved from one piece of wood, and having two holes for the twisted red, light brown and slate blue wool cord, the cord bearing two pom-poms at the ends. The extremities of the cord are knotted one around the other to form a slip-loop. The cord strings the shells together, the hollows being in contact with each other. While playing, the thumb is placed in the two loops as described for KG172 and the fingers tap the shells together, the loops springing them apart again. State of preservation: Good condition. Measurements: Shells: l.: 78.5mm; max.-min. w.: 58.4-28.3mm; max. h.: 27.6mm. Hollow: ø: c 44mm; d.: 12.8mm. Flanges: w.: 32.1mm; h.: 10.0mm. Cord: l.: 174mm; th.: 2.2mm. Historical Documentation: De Lange (1967: 92, 361) writes: “Portugal (?)”; whereas Montagu, in his personal notes: “sounds Spanish”. References: See KG172; De Lange 1967: 92, 361; Montagu’s notes: 361). 3. Castanets Hornbostel-Sachs number: 111.141 Unidentified Iberian Peninsula Idiophones 03 Inv. KK063-KK064 runs, the ends knotted together and forming a slip-loop. Measurements: KK063 Shells: l.: 86mm; max.-min. w.: 52.4-30.0mm; max. h.: 27.1mm. Hollow: ø: 38.3mm; d.: 7.6mm. Flanges: w.: 43.2mm; h.: 10.0mm. Cord: l.: 117mm; th.: 1,9 mm. KK064 Shells: l.: 86.5mm; max.-min. w.: 53.2-29.7mm; max. h.: 24.5mm. Hollow: ø: 37.9mm; d.: 7.0mm. Flanges: w.: 42.9mm; h.: 10.6mm. Cord: l.: 188mm; th.: 1.9mm. Historical Documentation: See KK062. Further comments: The Spanish dancers distinguish between the “male” castanet worn on the left and the “female” worn on the right, the former being hollowed more widely in order to give a lower pitch. References: See KG172 ; De Lange 1967 : 92, 361; : Montague’s notes: 361). No mark Description: Two pairs castanets of blackened wood, consisting each of two matching shells, carved and hollowed out. The outer shape of each shell is convex, the thickness rising towards the end. At the top each shell ends with a protruding flange, made of one piece of wood, having two holes through which the brown cord 197 KG124a = xylophone; KG124b-c = beaters. 54 4. Four-row xylophone with two beaters Hornbostel-Sachs number: 111.212 John Grey & Sons Ltd., altered by Percival Kirby London, United Kingdom 1905-1928 Xylophones Platform Inv. KG124a-c197 Marked: Dulcetta / JOHN GREY AND SONS LTD. LONDON in ivory round inserted in the lowest F bar. Description: Frame made of wooden slats, in the shape of an isosceles trapezium. Lap joints are cut at the extremities of the slats so that the two lateral slats overlap the parallel L-shaped ones. Three median slats are situated between the sloping sides, fastened to the parallel sides with a middle lap joint. Two rods of nitrile rubber are fixed on the lateral slats with two slotted flat head screws each. Three identical rods are fixed to the median slats by means of a wire, twisted and hooked around two slotted round head screws which are fastened to the parallel slats. Every rod has three holes set at regular intervals for the wires which fasten them to the strut. In the median rods are only the central wires, whereas the external ones are missing. Across the rods are four overlapping rows of thirty-two tuned wooden bars, placed alternatively in each row. Each bar has two holes at the two main nodal points passing through them in width, through which a red discoloured rope runs, knotted around the external wires. The bars are loosely secured with the ropes above the lateral struts and with knots next to the holes, the knots being separated from the bars by small rubber discs. There are no knots along the ropes above the median slats, whereas the small rubber discs avoid that the bars come into contact with each other. The ropes above the lateral slats are also fixed to the nitrile rubber rods with thin black waxed cords, which run fully around the rope, secondly around the rod, and are tied at the top. Around the lateral ropes are also the original light cords used by Prof. Kirby. The thirty-two bars lie crosswise to the player’s body, the shortest furthest away. There are seven bars in the row on the player’s left and eight in each of the other three rows. Certain bars are rebated at their extremities for tuning purposes. The pitch of each bar is written in white on the left of the bar’s surface. The two beaters are spoonshaped and are not certainly made of the same piece of wood. The wood grain runs parallel to the length and the colour of KG124c is lighter than that of KG124b. Pitch of the bars: G♯ F♯ | F F|E D | C♯ D♯ | C B | A♯ G♯ | A G|F F| F♯ E | D♯ C♯ | D C|C A♯ | B A | G♯ F|G F♯ | E State of preservation: The xylophone shows evidence of damages, which affect, above all, the wood. 55 The longest slat’s wood is frayed. The second and forth rubber rods from the left and the supporting slats are not aligned; this might be due to a late wood warping. The small rubber disc between the lower F♯ bar and the adjacent G bar is missing. The central wire in the right slat and the thin black cord stringing the nitrile rubber rod to the lateral slat on the player’s right are broken. The longest wooden slat is pierced below the holes where the current screws are placed. This might be a sign of a later intervention due to the wear of the wood caused by the traction of the wire. The “D♯” mark on the seventh row from the player’s body is not clearly visible anymore. Measurements: Overall l.: 660mm. Wooden slats (front/back/left/right): l.: 984/410/689/666mm; w.: 47.2/ 46.5/44.6/46.5mm; h.: 13.6/ 12.4/13.0/13.0mm. Nitrile rubber rods (left/right): l.: 697/ 654mm; ø: 26.4/26.4mm. Ropes: ø: c3mm. Bars: max.min. l.: 353-148mm. Beaters (KG124b/c): total mass: -/-; l.: 237/242mm; handle max. w.: 21.8/22.6mm; head max. w.: 27.4/26.8mm; min. w.: 6.4/ 6.1mm; head th.: 19.4/19.8mm. Historical Documentation: De Lange 1967: 90, 354: “Oldfashioned in type but of modern date. […] It was made by Professor Kirby for convenience in transport, etc.” Further comments: The strut was made by Prof. Kirby. The only elements belonging to the original instrument appear to be the bars. The white circles on C and G bars might suggest that the original instrument was a xylophone for learners. The nitrile rubber rods are a late replacement of the rubber rods used by Prof. Kirby, which were corroded. The black cords around are a late addition as well. In the four rows xylophones described by Baines (1992: 384) “the main scale zigzags up through the two middle rows and the outer rows provide the sharps in duplicate, making these available to either hand”. The instrument made by Prof. Kirby has a different arrangement which has apparently no musical reason. Furthermore, the instrument produces a very bad sound, due mainly to the choice of rubber bars instead of straws commonly used in similar instruments; therefore, the fact it has ever been played is questionable. John Grey & Sons Ltd. had been a subsidiary company of Barnett Samuel & Sons since 1911 and was specialised in the making and selling of banjos, guitars and drums. The name was used as a trademark on the instruments until 1967, when was replaced by the trademark “R.M”, from Rose Morris & Co. Ltd., which purchased the instrument part of the business in 1928.198 Nevertheless, the John Grey and Sons Ltd. trademark was probably in use since 1905 and from 1928 used on instruments by Rose Morris & Co, but with evidence only on banjos, guitars and drums.199 198 199 Slater 2006. References: Baines 1992: 383-4; Blades 1984 : 307-8 ; KC Conservation records, xylophone; De Lange 1967: 90, 354; Slater 2006. 5. Ratchet (cog rattle) Hornbostel-Sachs number: 112.24 Unidentified United Kingdom 19th century? Idiophones 01 Inv. 52/1284 No mark Description: Rattle of dark wood composed of a cogwheel slipped onto a handle and a single rectangular tongue fixed to a frame. The handle, of turned polished wood, is inserted in a central hole of the frame, a small tract protruding from the wheel at the top. One extremity of the frame is hinged above and below the cogwheel. The frame is accurately carved. The wooden tongue is fixed by one end to the frame by means of three slotted round head screws, the free end leaning on the toothed wheel. The back side of the frame is half-closed, thus forming a resonance cavity, and has a rounded opening on the opposite side to the wheel through which the blade can be seen. P. Slater, email c., Jan 20, 2018. 56 The rattle can be swung both ways. State of preservation: The cogwheel’s teeth are wornout, at the edges where the tongue snaps against the wheel. Measurements: Handle: l.: 139.8mm; max.min. ø: 30.3-22.6mm. Frame: l.: 257mm; max.-min. w.: 109.567.0mm; th.: 36.0mm. Tongue: l.: 19.2mm; w.: 32.1mm; th.: 5.2mm. Wheel: h.: 32.2mm; tooth’s w.: 18.7mm. Historical Documentation: De Lange 1967: 94, 373: “Bought by Prof. P. R. Kirby in 1958.” Nixon, Inventory, 2017: “Does not have a K, KG or KK number. But is found in the Africana Museum register […] cf. letter from Diana Wall [about] redisposition of this item […] (Kirby Additional Notes, Africana Museum).” Further comments: This specimen was purchased by Kirby in 1958 in London. It is the only item in the Collection which has a different inventory number. In the 18th and 19th century’s iconography the night watchman is usually carrying a staff, a lantern and a rattle in his hand or his belt. In Europe the rattle was used in churches, both Roman and Orthodox, as alarm signal, noise-maker and to scare animals and birds. Nevertheless, it has been brought also into the orchestra, e.g. by Beethoven (Wellingtons Sieg, 1813), Strauss (Eulenspiegel, 1894-5), Musorgsky (Pictures at an Exhibition, orchestrated by Ravel, 1922), Respighi (Pini di Roma, 1923-4), Walton (First Façade Suite, 1926), and by the author of the Toy Symphony.200 References: Baines 1992: 278; Blades 1984: 395-6; J. Blades, J. Holland, “Ratchet”, 2001, in Oxford Music Online; Galpin 1946: 3953; A. Knowles 2016; De Lange 1967: 94, 373; Simeoni, Tucci 1991: 115-37; Stanley 1921: 17. 6. Tuned handbells Hornbostel-Sachs number: 111.242.222 Idiophones 05 Inv. KG158, KG159, KG160, KG161 Warners London, United Kingdom 19th century Engraved on handle of KG158: WARNERS / LONDON Description: Part of two sets of bells with stiff handles consisting of a folded leather strap forming a loop at the top, tuned to G, B, D♯ and E. The barrel has a hollow cup shape with wide flaring lip and a massive crown in which the clapper is fastened. The clapper consists of a solid metal shaft pivoted in a yoke so that it is free to swing in one plane only, the bell being struck by a wooden peg 201 which passes through the clapper ball and 200 J. Blades, J. Holland, “Ratchet”, 2001, in Oxford Music Online. sticks out of each side. Around the shaft, close to the inner side of the crown, is hinged a felted leaf spring, which holds the clapper head out of contact with the barrel on either side of the shaft. The ball is hinged in the shaft and fixed with a pin which passes through the wooden peg as well, fixing all parts together. The barrel, the crown and the clapper’s shaft and ball are of bell metal. A button fastens the leather handle to the cannon passing through its hole and the handle block. Between the handle and the crown is a leather disc, the handguard, whose diameter is slightly larger than that of the crown and is engraved on its upper surface with a pattern (twelve and six fourleaf clovers on KG158 and KG159, respectively, six dots on KG160). The handles of KG159 and KG160 are engraved along the edges, whereas KG158 and KG161 have a straight basting with a yellowed sewing thread which sews a leather strip together with the handle’s edges, on both sides. KG158, tuned to G, produces the deepest pitch and is the only specimen bearing the name of the instrument maker: “WARNERS / LONDON”, which is engraved on the folded end of the handle. Below the trademark, on both sides, is engraved the pitch letter, white coloured. A chamois leather covers over the crossbar. In KG159, tuned to B, the clapper is missing and the 23.3mm deep threaded hole in the crown is visible. The pitch letter is engraved on both sides of the handle’s upper end, whereas a white semi-vanished sign is probably the remainder of another “B” marked with ink. KG160 is tuned to D sharp. The inner side of the crown is covered with red felt. Above one of the pitch letters engraved on both sides of the handle is painted another “D” in white. KG161, tuned to B, is marked “KG151” with dark ink as was registered by the Africana Museum. The inner side of the crown is covered with red felt. 201 crossbar as it is used by both Joan Shull (2001) and Baines (1992). The word wooden peg has been preferred to the word 57 State of preservation: The leather of the handles is generally worn-out, especially that of KG159. The barrel of KG159 shows evidence of oxidation on its outer surface. Further signs of oxidation are visible around the buttons which fasten the handle to the cannon. The swinging of the clapper is less fluent in KG158 and KG159 than in KG160. Measurements: KG158 Overall h. (handle included): 225mm. Barrel: h.: 56mm; max.-min. ø: c 66-34mm; head inner d.: -; lip th.: 3.3mm. Handle: l.: 130mm; w.: 21.7mm; th.: 4.4mm. Clapper: l.: 50mm; ball ø: 16.3mm; wooden peg l.: 27.5mm; wooden peg ø: -. KG159 Overall h. (handle included): 225mm. Barrel: h.: 57mm; max.-min. ø: 61.5-c36mm; head inner d.: 14.1mm; lip th.: 3.2mm. Handle: l.: 129.5mm; w.: 20.4mm; th.: 4.5mm. Clapper: l.: -; ball ø: -; wooden peg l.: -; wooden peg ø: -. KG160 Overall h. (handle included): 220mm. Barrel: h.: 54mm; max.- min. ø: 55.5-c31mm; head inner d.: -; lip th.: 4.2mm. Handle: l.: 129mm; w.: 19.3mm; th.: 3.5mm. Clapper: l.: 43.5mm; ball ø: 16.8mm; wooden peg l.: 26.5mm; wooden peg ø: 6.4mm. KG161 Overall h. (handle included): 215mm. Barrel: h.: 51mm; max.- min. ø: 52.3-27.5mm; head inner d.: -; lip th.: 3.8mm. Handle: l.: 125mm; w.: 19.0mm; th.: 4.0mm. Clapper: l.: 41.0mm; ball ø: 16.1mm; wooden peg l.: 24.1mm; wooden peg ø: 7.2mm. Historical Documentation: De Lange 1967: 93, 370: “No. 161 was used in the performance of the American tune ‘Ellie Rhee’ in South Africa in 1886, which tune was adopted for the song ‘Sarie Marais’”. Africana Museum 1981: “Bells that formed part of two sets of hand-bells used by the Steele-Payne Bell-ringers.” Further comments: Hand bells are usually grouped in sets and performed in Western handbell music by a “team” or “choir” of four to fifteen “ringers”. Each member either holds one or two handbells in each hand or lifts the appropriate bells from a table as the notes are required. KG158-161 belong to the category of modern tuned English handbells, which were developed in the 17th century, alongside the English art of “Change ringing”. Frequently used as a practice instrument for tower bell ringers, they were made and tuned as substitutes of bells in a specific tower for Change ringing rehearsals. The sets have been enlarged over time covering up to five octaves by the beginning of the 21st century. Measurements: Overall l.: 67.7mm. Frame: inner ø. (longit.xtransv.): 20.9x37.8mm; l. of the arms: 36.6mm; max.-min. th.: 8.23.8mm. Tongues: l.: 92.3/ 92.0mm; max.-min. w.: 4.61.0mm; max.-min. th.: 0.80.5mm. References: Baines 1992: 141-2; Bessarabov 1941: 25; Galpin 1946: 42-7; De Lange 1967: 93-4, 370; P. Price, J. Shull, “Handbell”, 2001, in Oxford Music Online; Van der Meer 1993: 21-3; G. Wilson, S. Coleman, “Change ringing”, 2001, in Oxford Music Online. Further comments: This typology of jew’s harp differs from the “inward-pointing” jew’s harp for being usually gripped by the player with the tongue pointing outwards away from the palm. The frame is pressed against the teeth and is actuated by directly plucking the free end of the tongue, which produces a sound of fixed pitch, the mouth cavity acting as a resonator. 7. Jew’s harp Hornbostel-Sachs number: 121.221 Unidentified Aerophone Display Inv. KK174 No mark Description: Jew’s harp with two tongues of heteroglottic type. An iron rod is forged into an elliptical shape ending with two straight parallel arms, thus forming the frame. Two flexible lamellae (tongues) are slotted into the central curved section of the frame, lying between the arms of the frame, with a gap in between, and turned up to an angle at their free end, by the end of the arms. Three notches are evenly cut in each arm, opposite to the player, for tuning purposes. State of Preservation: Good condition. 58 References: Baines 1992: 177-8; De Lange 1967: 94, 374; J. Wright, “Jew’s harp”, 2001, in Grove Music Online. Membranophones The Membranophones category is herein represented by only two pairs of timpani which illustrate two of the stages of the kettledrum’s technological evolution concerning pitch changing and tuning which led to an increased use of these instruments in the orchestra throughout the 19th century as well as their fortune in the following century. The first pair, from Germany, is built according to the rotary-tuned kettledrum system patented by Johann Stumpff in 1821, which allows to change the pitch of the drum by physically rotating the entire instrument on a threaded screw. The pair of kettledrums by Hawkes and Son display instead a system designed by Johann Einbigler in 1836, in which a machine drum is operated by a hand-controlled screw crank. 8. Kettledrums Hornbostel-Sachs number: 211.11 Unidentified Germany After 1821 Membranophones Platform 2 Inv. KG122-KG123 No mark Description: A pair of kettledrums of thin copper, covered with vellum drum heads. The bodies are suspended between vertical iron rods which stand on a horizontal iron wheel, above which is another similar wheel, the two wheels being threaded and mounted on the same long bolt which extends from the base of the drum up through the wheels, its bottom end being fixed into a three-legged stand with zoomorphic feet. The two wheels are meant to be free to rotate around the threaded pivot for tuning purposes and are held in a rest position by a clamp. Each wheel has eight spokes linked at their outer termination to the iron bars, which are screwed in the intersection point where the spokes meet the wheel’s outer ring. The upper end of the rods fixed to the upper wheel is glued to the surface of the kettle (75mm from the counterhoop) through a carved iron plate, whereas the lower wheel’s rods pass through holes in the counterhoop iron structure and are fixed on top by bolts. Both drums have a protective wooden lid. In the middle of the vellum of KG122 is written with black ink “Regina”. State of preservation: The gold glaze covering the kettles is cracked in a few spots and the underlying copper can be glimpsed. The vellum of the smaller specimen has a 38mm cut on the side of the counterhoop. Both wooden lids are highly damaged. Measurements: KG122 Overall h.: 804mm. Shells: h.: 325mm; ø: 740mm; max.-min. th.: -. Counterhoop: h.: 20.7mm; inner ø: 697mm; th.: 21.4mm. Distance between the iron plates (centre): 26mm. Distance from the counter-hoop’s lower rim to the iron plates (centre): 75.5mm. Stand: h. of the legs: 117mm; rods’ l. (lower/ upper wheel): 540/ 400mm; lower/upper wheel’s ø: 475/ 440mm, spokes’ l. (lower/upper wheel): 190/ 177mm. KG123 Overall h.: 818mm. Shell: h.: 783mm; ø: 700mm; max.-min. 59 th.: -. Counterhoop: h.: 20.9mm; inner ø: 638mm; th.: 21.8mm. Distance between the iron plates (centre): 23.5mm. Distance from the counterhoop’s lower rim to the iron plates (centre): 81.0mm. Stand: h. of the legs: 117mm; rods’ l. (lower/upper wheel): 540/ 400mm; lower/upper wheel ø: 475/430mm, spokes’ l. (lower/ upper wheel): 190/ 177mm. Historical Documentation: Nixon, Inventory, 2017: “[…] German./ Donor: Miss N. Grieg of Durban.' (Kirby Additional Notes, Museum Africa).” References: Baines 1992: 335-7; Baines 1996: 156-7; Bessarabov 1941: 32-7; Blades 1984: 223-84, Faletti, Meucci, Rossi Rognoni 2001: 224-5; De Lange 1967: 121, 478; Kirby 1928. 9. Kettledrums Hornbostel-Sachs number: 211.11 Hawkes and Son London, United Kingdom Late 19th century Membranophones Platform 2 Inv. KG120-KG121 Engraved: trademark above the handle: HAWKES & SON / MAKERS / LONDON Description: A pair of kettledrums. Bowlshaped body with resonators of thin copper and a release hole in the bottom, covered with vellum drum heads, which are fixed to a circular iron support with six bolts. The drumhead edges are lapped around a wooden hoop, held in place by an overlapping metal counterhoop, which fits around the shell’s rim. Around the shell, 10cm from the rim, are eight metal pulley wheels fitted into one frame each, the frames evenly distributed around the kettle, alternated with four external pulleys (set 93mm from the rim). At each of the tensioning points is a hook attached to the outside of the counterhoop, a pulley loosely mounted on each hook. The frames and hooks are fastened to the shell and to the counterhoop with one and two round head screws respectively. The steel cable runs through the twenty pulleys and can be tightened by means of a screw Thandle fixed to the shell. The smaller specimen of the pair is at present sustained by an iron three-legged stand, which has a ring linking the three legs around at the midpoint of its height. Both the drums are protected by a carton cover. State of preservation: Kettles and hoops are deformed by several dents due to the use of these instruments by the mounted police force. The indentation trace is evident on both shells: at the base of KG120 and on one side of 202 203 Waterhouse 1993: 165. Nixon, Inventory, 2017. KG121, throughout its height. The body of KG121 is sloping towards one side. Bluish signs of oxidation are evident on the kettles, especially around the slots, the hooks and the junction points of the supporting iron ring. The vellum is in relatively good condition. Measurements: KG120 Overall h.: 780mm. Shells: h.: 380mm; ø: 520mm; max.-min. th.: -; release hole ø: 14.5mm. Counterhoop: h.: 20.8mm; inner ø: 505mm; th.: 7.5mm. Distance between the hooks: 20.5mm. Distance from the counterhoop’s lower rim to the external pulleys: 95mm. Distance from the counterhoop’s lower rim to the frames: 83.5mm. ø of the supporting iron ring: 25mm. Stand: h. of the legs: 510mm; ø of the iron ring: 300mm. KG121 Overall h.: 433mm. Shells: h.: 408mm; ø: 575; max.-min. th.: ; release hole ø: 14.5mm. Counterhoop: h.: 21mm; inner ø: 22.8mm; th.: 9.6mm. Distance between the hooks: 225mm. Distance from the counterhoop’s lower rim to the external pulleys: 92.4mm. Distance from the counterhoop’s lower rim to the frames: 81.0mm. ø of the supporting iron ring: 305mm. Historical Documentation: Nixon, Inventory, 2017: “Africana Museum Accession Register: Drums. Original drums of the Z.A.R.P.S. given “South African Republic Police” 2017. 204 60 to Professor Kirby by Drummer Blake. Late 19th century.” Further comments: On account of the trademark, the most probable dating for these specimens is 18891895.202 These instruments were original of the ZARPs and have been given to Professor Kirby by a drummer named Blake. 203 The ZARP (from the Dutch ZuidAfrikaansche Republiek Politie) was the mounted and foot police force of the South African Republic (1852-77; 1881-1902).204 References: See KG122-KG123; De Lange 1967: 121-2, 479. Chordophones From a pure numerical point of view, the group devoted to the European Chordophones is undoubtedly a limited category within the Kirby Collection, for it consists of only six instruments; nevertheless, it might appear in some respects to be the most interesting one. First of all, two instruments, a virginal (KG154) and a lute (KG033), which have been considered counterfeits for the last ten years, raise herein the question of falsification practices applied to musical instruments. The recent documenting material concerning these two specimens makes use of the term “counterfeit”. In the online database205 KG154 and KG033 are currently titled as “Counterfeit of a 17th century Florentine virginal” and “Counterfeit Florentine lute” respectively, after their non-complete genuineness has been pointed out by Jeremy Montagu (p.c. to Nixon, 2008). Although in both cases the constructive characteristics of the instruments do not conform to those of similar specimens of the 17th century – thus excluding the use of the term restoration, for it refers to the process of returning something to its earlier good condition – the terminology used so far for designating them needs to be reconsidered. At first glance, we would be prone to talking about alteration, as both “counterfeits” owned by Kirby are instruments whose origins can be traced to seventeenth-century Italy and display evidence of having gone through one or more stages of intervention apparently intended to bring them to playing order. However, alteration, together with counterfeit and reproduction are specific ways in which the falsification can be realised and imply a will of deceiving by the maker or the dealer, thus meaning that falsification can be irrespective of the physical construction of the item and can reveal itself in the later phase of its circulation.206 Therefore, as in our case there is no evidence of any purpose of deceit, neither through the purchase of these specimens nor do we have any proof of the certainty of any specific value by its collector, it would be more appropriate to speak of inauthenticity, the will of deceiving being indeed the discriminating factor between counterfeit and inauthenticity. On the contrary, we can quite safely claim that those interventions respond largely to the fashion and interest developed in the last quarter of the 19th century for antique objects and musical instruments which could be evocative of Renaissance Italy. This fenomenon led to an increasing demand of musical instruments whose interest lay in their potential use as interior furniture and secondly in their functional value. This is specifically the case of the lute, KG033, whose odd aesthetic features – the constructive characteristics of both concerned specimens will be widely discussed in the corresponding records – could have never slipped past Kirby’s sight. Furthermore, most of the lutes that have come down to us, due to the obsolescence of this instrument in the eighteenth century, had been subjected to extensive rebuilding in order to meet changes in playing requirements. Thus, many instruments were provided with different numbers of strings, different lengths of neck, and most surviving lutes from early 16th century have been re-necked in later styles; furthermore, valuable old lute bodies were often used for the making of collectors’ pieces, with ad hoc replacements of other parts, these being often clumsy and unpractical.207 A functional rather than aesthetic reason can be identified for the alterations which the virginal KG154 has been subjected to. In the latter case, the exclusion of the term counterfeit is supported by a short reference to the concerned specimen found in a letter addressed to Eric Grant, in which Kirby defines his new spinet as “genuine”, and furthermore suggests that the interventions which the instrument underwent to, were commissioned by Kirby himself, as in the same letter he shows to be conscious of the fact that the instrument was not in playing order anymore, “though it could be reconditioned with a little work.”208 Finally, it is appropriate to give advance notice of the fact that none of the claimed counterfeits in ques205 UCT LibrariesW. Restelli 2013: 14-9. 207 Baines 1968b: 27-8. 208 Lettera di P. R. Kirby a Eric Grant, 2 aprile 1946 (BC 750). See Capitolo II, p. 26. 206 61 tion was truly made in Florence and the reason of such hasty attribution was due to a common prejudice which recently brought many scholars to automatically link the making of fake historical instruments to the name of the Florentine antique dealer Leopoldo Franciolini (b Florence, March 1, 1844; d Florence, March 10, 1920). The string instruments section is enriched by a hurdy-gurdy made by “Le Stradivari de la vielle” (KG032).209 This instrument often raises curiosity especially in non-European countries, for its unclear origins and for its versatility that, in due time, made it suitable to the music life of every level of Western society. Widespread in Middle Age as a minstrel instrument, the hurdy-gurdy insinuated itself into the French court in the second half of the 17th century, becoming fashionable in the French aristocracy and being used in chamber music from the 1720s; it then begun to decline in the 1760s, maintaining a role as a salon instrument and being still used by street musicians; it came back to its original and limited role as regional folk instrument in France by the middle of the 18th century and died out in the beginning of the 20th century.210 The traditional bowed instruments family is herein represented by a normal-size violin (KG145), which would easily go unnoticed for the making skills displayed, except the circumstances under which it has been built are more than out of the ordinary. Finally, the Kirby Collection offers two harps which illustrate the two most efficient systems devised to achieve chromatism with this instrument in the 19h century: a single action system harp with crotched mechanism (mécanique à crochets) by Champion, Paris (KG015) and a double-action pedal harp by Brown, London (KG126), made in compliance with the style of the well-known Parisian maker Sébastien Erard, who devised the mécanique à fourchettes à double mouvement. The first pedal harp, with five pedals and 35 strings, was invented by Jakob Hochbrucker around 1700 and was provided with two more pedals in 1720. Around the middle of the century a single action harp with crotchet mechanism and 30 to 37 strings was known as “system Hochbrucker” harp or harpe organisée. During the 18th century several systems for shortening the vibrating length of the strings were developed, making use of crotchet (crochets), crutches (béquilles), rotary tuning pegs (chevilles tournantes, patented by Cousineau Père & Fils as “Cousineau harpe” in 1785), and discs (fourchettes, patented by Erard in London in 1794 and in Paris four years later). About 1785 Jean Henri Naderman constructed a harp with swells (harpe à renforcement) with movable valves and links which could be used by depressing an eighth pedal in the middle of the pedal box, in order to solve the problem of modulation which was characteristic of the systems in use at that time. At the end of this process, in 1810, Sébastien Erard developed the double-action pedal harp which is still in use today, which enabled to obtain three instead of two semitones on one string by shortening the vibrating length of the strings with a pair of doublepin discs operated by pedals. The Erard’s double action harp became soon familiar in Europe, Usa, Australia, New Zeland, having on its early models a compass ranging from E♭ to e'''''♭, and was constructed by his inventor with Grecian style ornament in plaster-work like that on KG126 by Brown.211 209 Vannes 1988: 2017. F. Baines, E.A. Bowles, R.A. Green, “Hurdy-gurdy”, 2001, in Oxford Music Online. 211 Van der Meer 2008: 386-499. 210 62 10. Virginal Hornbostel-Sachs number: 314.122-6-8 Hieronymus Undeus / Unidentified Venice, Italy / Unidentified 1632 / 20th century? Harp Platform Inv. KG154 Inscribed On front and on rear of the nameboard (see description) Description: CASE. Hexagonal virginal with entirely recessed keyboard placed off-centre slightly to the left in one of the longer sides, inserted in an outer rectangular case from which the instrument cannot be removed.211 The outer case is made of wood and covered outside with leather secured with studs, the leather being embossed with vague floral motifs. The lid is hinged to the case by means of three metal hinges fixed to both case and lid by three flat slotted head screws each. The lid has a tripartite flap which is linked to it by two enchained iron rings and folds back in turn. Inside the lid is a patterned claret fabric. An iron staple is fastened to the rear of either lateral rims of the lid and of the flap, to accommodate the lid sticks. The latter differ from each other: the one on the left side being a blackened metal tube pivoted by a screw; the other, on the right side, being a wooden tapered slat pivoted by 211 This sort of construction is defined “false inner-outer” and was typical of Italian keyboard instruments with plucked strings; a screw which has a frame carved with a leaf-garland motif. At the left side of the keyboard is a rectangular glove compartment for a box, and on the right is more space for the bass end of the bridge. Further compartments are derived from the triangular rooms between the oblique back liners and the back liner, and have a removable wooden lid – of rough workmanship – with an ivory knob on top. BASEBOARD. The bottom is built in three planks of blackened wood lengthwise aligned. On the right side of the baseboard is a wooden rectangular patch inserted across the planks; at about the centre, transversely, is a 31mm large wooden bottom brace. On the bottom are drilled various holes, some having a diameter between 8 and 12 mm, manly used for the passage of screws fastening the planks to the soundboard, and other holes being much larger, with a diameter about 25-26 mm, set mainly on the right side of the baseboard. At present, twenty-nine screws fasten the bottom planks to the light wooden barring, which can be glimpsed through the tight splits between the planks. A rectangular paper is attached to the left side of the baseboard and is handwritten, in order to read: “Signor [G]ino Barbetti / Fermo Stazione Porta al Prato / Firenze”. it consists of a thick-cased instrument made to resemble a thin-walled instrument proper in a separate outer case (A. Bonza, 63 The SOUNDBOARD is made of hardwood with longitudinal grain, set at right angle with eight lateral mitred liners which are glued around the inside of the case. The soundboard supports the nuts and the bridge and is drilled to hold the wrest pins. The two nuts are glued on the left portion of the soundboard; the 8’ one is slightly curved towards the front side and has mouldings at both extremities; the 4’ nut runs straight on its right. The nuts taper towards the back side and provide support for the strings above the soundboard, roughly determining the close limit of the vibrating length of each string with the thin brass nut pins, which are inserted in holes set in the nuts. The bridge, on the right side of the soundboard, is bent to form an asymmetrical arch, the extremity close to the back being cut slantwise and the other extremity bearing mouldings. The junction edges between soundboard and liners are covered with grooves, whereas the top edge of the liners is finished with cap mouldings, the long back liner being the only plain exception. A soundhole with parchment rose with geometrical design is set in the soundboard, extending below the 12th-23rd strings, at the level of the d''–a'' keys. On the right side of the soundboard, 102 metal wrest pins are arranged alternately in two parallel rows, flanking the right liners. “Glossary of keyboard instruments technical terms” in Van der Meer 2006: 674). The STRINGS, two for each note, run parallel with the keyboard, more or less perpendicular to the key levers, with the longest string nearest, and are arranged in two registers, the 4’ and 8’. The strings are hitched to the hitchpins of the correspondent nut (4’ hitchpin rail and 8’ hitchpin rail) driven in the left side of the soundboard, and wound on the wrest pins, freely running between the correspondent nut and a common bridge, set on the right side of the board. The 8’ hitchpin rail flanks the left side liner and extends along an oblique line towards the back at the right of the board. The 4’ hitchpin rail is set parallel to the jack row, at its left. The jacks are placed along a line running from the front of the instrument to the back, from left to right, on the right of the 4’ hitchpin nut, each jack passing through a slot in the soundboard and in the jackslide glued to the underside. The KEYWELL is delimited by two partition walls at its sides, to which are applied the two curved keywell scrolls, the lower external rim of the keyboard being edged with moulding. The fifty keys cover a range of just over four octaves – C-f''', with bass C/E short octave, typical compass in Italian instruments, in particular Venetian. The keys, thirty naturals and twenty sharps, have all the same design and appear to be of the same epoch. The naturals have two-pieces covers of bone and arcaded fronts of boxwood, with triangular carvings and trefoil spire carvings; the sharps are of stained boxwood. The wooden jacks stand, resting on the back of the key-levers. The levers are made of light wood, increasing in length towards the treble, and pivoted on the balance rail by the balance pins, which have white felt balance punchings. A green felted layer is glued to the keyboard frame, under the keys, whereas a black one is glued to the rear of the nameboard, above the keys’ ends. The JACKS, two for each key, are arranged in pairs and pluck in opposite directions with very small quill plectra fixed in a narrow wooden tongue mounted in the slot at the top of the jack, on a pin pivot. The plectra project about 4mm from the tongue, lying at rest about 1mm below the string. Near the top of the jack is a wire staple to prevent the tongue swinging back too far. Above the jacks is the jack rail, consisting of an easily removable wooden slat, which prevents risk of a jack jumping too high and failing to return properly, with a layer of black felt glued to its rear. Each of the jackrail’s ends is inserted in a slot derived from two rectangular wooden blocks fixed to the long liners, the block on the keyboard side having two holes through which an aluminium nail runs in order to hold the jackrail in position. A metal stop lever with pommel handle sticks out of the nameboard, on the right, and controls a mechanism mounted on the soundboard, thus allowing to shunt the 8’ strings row sideways, for its jacks not to pluck, leaving the strings of the 4’ register to sound when the keys are pressed. The register mecha- 64 nism consists of a wooden slat which runs parallel to the jackrail, at its right, drilled to accommodate fifty-one parker screws whose shaft is partly out of the slat. As the lever is operated, the slat moves in a way that the 8’ strings are shunt by the screws. Above the keyboard, screwed in the bottom of the nameboard face, is the wooden nameboard batten, which can be removed to access the keyboard, and bears the inscription with the maker’s name: “SPINETA PRIVILEGIATA INVENTOR HIER.MUS UNDEUS DONATI [FILIUS MDC] XXXIII”. Similar words are written on the back of the nameboard, in ink: “Spinetta et Archispinetta privilegiata Inventor Hiermus Undeus Donati filius 1632”. Three wooden knobs are inserted in the nameboard to hold it, and an ivory pillar is at either side of the keyboard, on the blackened wooden endblocks. The case lies on a wooden STAND with four barleytwist legs and appears to be of a later date. State of preservation: Although we cannot talk about counterfeiting nor of alteration as we have no proofs of deceit, several constructive features of the present virginal allow us to talk about inauthenticity. The basic structure of the specimen suggests us that the instrument might have been at a first stage a polygonal virginal made by Hieronymus Undeus, son of Donatus, in 1632. In fact, although the inscription on the nameboard appears definitely not to be original, this could be a later copy of the inscription in ink on the rear, which might have been written by the original maker and appears to be identical to that of another instrument by H. Undeus documented by Senn (see Further comments). The Venetian origins are evident in the characteristics of the keyboard: besides the compass, the recessed keyboard on rectangular virginals – typical of German instruments and never much fashionable in Italy – was exceptionally found in NorthEastern Italy, especially in the Venetian Republic. We can hypothesize that the instrument underwent two stages of intervention by two different people and probably in different periods. The first hypothetical author of the modification heavily and clumsily intervened in four aspects: the soundboard, the register mechanism, the jacks, the keyboard. The soundboard displays a depression on its left back section, bounded by the 8’ pinning. This part of the soundboard is also unused, as the hitchpins form a line that flanks the left liner, then continuing in slanting direction towards the right side of the back liner. This unused section appears to have been added at a later time to the source soundboard, the difference of the grain strengthening this assumption. The position of the 8’ hitchpins also corroborates the hypothesis of such alteration, as these pins normally flank the left liners, which are the most resistant parts of the soundboard. On the contrary, only ten of the current hitchpins flank the 212 left liner, whereas the rest are inserted along the junction line of the two soundboard’s parts. On the other hand, it must be taken into consideration that an extant Donatus Undeus’ virginal, housed in the Musée des Instruments de Musique of Brussels, displays a very similar pinning, which partly flanks the left liner and continues along a diagonal line towards the back liner, at the right, thus leaving an unused triangular section of the soundboard of notable size. The register mechanism, the parker screws and the manufacture of the jacks are odd for the 17th century, appearing instead from the 20th century. Usually, in the case of plucked string instruments provided with stops, those were engaged and disengaged by moving the jack slides to one side and not by moving an additional slat with screws to shunt a string register. The jacks are affected by wood fraying which causes them not to be free to flow in the corresponding slots. This occurs because they were made of softwood, which is more vulnerable to this kind of damage, unlike the hardwood, which was normally used for making the jacks after being adequately planed. Furthermore, the bolts that have been screwed to the underside of the jacks, which touch the red felt strip placed on the keys’ end, have not been used as weights until recent times. Also, the position of the jackrail is unusual, as the jacks pluck the 4’ strings very close to their hitch point. P. Summers 2001. 65 The same author must have intervened in the keyboard, as the pins under the keys are extraneous and at the present state some of the keys cannot be fully and fluently pressed down. In conclusion, the original instrument might have been a 17th century Venetian polygonal virginal, whose soundboard has been expanded – though a real use of it has not been made – by its original maker or by a third party, and whose 4’ hitchpins as well as the bridgepins appear to be original or the result of a connoisseur’s modest restoration. On the contrary, the ten 8’ hitchpins on the left and the wrest pins of the longest strings could be a later addition; the wrest pins being of a modern type, with flat head surface tapering toward the tip to a kind of V shape near the point where the string wraps around the pin. 212 Furthermore, the bridge has been moved to the right from its original position, which can be traced on account of the glue’s signs left on the sound-board. On this basis, the approximate vibrating lengths of certain strings have been estimated (8’/4’): C/E: 1263/1039mm; c: 1061/897mm; c': 621/486mm; c'': 292/234mm; c''': 137/ 104mm; f''': 142/102mm; plucking point (8’/4’): C/E: ⅕ / ⅟24; f''': ⅟2 / ⅙. Further clues of intervention have been detected beside the above mentioned changements: In the bottom planks are various screw-holes from which the screws have been removed. The written paper on the bottom is attached with two screws pass- ing through it. The bottom might therefore have been disassembled and reassembled at a later time with new screws replacing the old ones in different spots. The screws are not identical but on account of the wear conditions appear to be of the same period. Measurements: Overall: l.: 1750mm; w.: 745mm; h.: 850mm. Case: l.: 1715mm; d. (lid included): 235mm. Frontal side: liner l.: 1128+521mm; liner h.: 70mm; th.: 18.3mm. Left side: liner l.: 244mm; liner h.: 70mm; th.: 17.9mm. Right side: liner l.: 345mm; liner h.: 68mm; th.: 18.2mm. Back left side: liner l.: 511mm; liner h.: 71mm; th.: 17.5mm. Back right side: liner l.: 505mm; liner h.: 68mm; th.: 18.0mm. Back side: liner l.: 727mm; liner h.: 61.3mm; th.: 11.1mm. Baseboard th.: c11.5mm. Lid: l.: 1750mm; w. (flap included): 771mm; th.: 24mm; flap w.: 248mm. Left/right lid sticks: l.: 683/ 676mm; max.-min. ø.: 13-12/ (h.xth.) 34x13-19x13mm. Rose: hole ø.: c91mm. Bridge: max.-min. w.: 10.59.8mm; h.: 10.5mm. Wrest pins: outer tract l.: 31.6mm, ø.: 4.7mm. Hitchpins: max./min. outer tract l.: 7/3mm, ø: 1.6mm. 8’ nut hitchpins: outer tract l.: c4mm, ø.: 1.0mm. 4’ nut hitchpins: outer tract l.: c4mm, ø.: 1.0mm. Jackrail: w.: 46.2mm, th.: 14.9mm. Keys. Naturals: l.: 124.7mm; h.: 16.7mm; min./max. distance to balance pins: 90.8/330mm. Sharps: l.: 66.5mm; h.: 11.9mm; min./max. distance to balance pins: 68.7/292mm. Natural keys tops: th.: 3.5mm. Protrusion of the key from the key-front: c1.5mm; key-front section l.: 37.0mm; w.: 22.0mm. Natural key-fronts th.: 4.4mm. Keywell: l. (scrolls included: 9mm each): 785mm; w.: 126.8mm. Nameboard: l.: 773mm; h.: 43mm; th.: -. Jacks: outer tract l.: c18mm; w.: c 11-12mm; th.: c 4-5mm; balance pins: l.: -, ø.: -. Back/frontal jackrail block: l.: 205/205mm; w.: 45/44mm. Stand: l.: 1641mm; w.: 682mm; h.: 615mm. Strings: vibrating length (8’/4’): C/E: 1477/1253mm; c: 1270/ 1006; c': 743/608; c'' 368/ 310mm; c''': 191/158; f''': 158/ 118mm; plucking point (8’/4’): C/E: ⅙ / ⅟30; f''': ⅕ / ⅐. Historical Documentation: Kirby, Letter to E. Grant, Apr 2, 1946: “Meanwhile my Museum has been presented with a genuine Italian Spinet of 1633. Unfortunately it has been knocked about a but and is not in playing order, though it could be reconditioned with a little work.” (see Capitolo II, Il Museo degli Strumenti Musicali, p.26). De Lange 1967: 135, 526: “Donated by Mrs. Gertrude Hunt. / Made by Donati (Donatus or Donato), Florence, in 1633. / History: A similar instrument, though made ten years earlier, is in the great collection of the Brussels Conservatoire.” Boalch 1995: 668: “Previous history: passed through the hands of Alec Hodsdon in the 1930s. Subsequently acquired by John Hunt, farmer, of Vereeniging, Transvaal.” UCT LibrariesW: “Creator: possibly Fasolini, Date of creation: 66 Probably late 19th century […] Jeremy Montagu thinks that Fasolini, a great faker of the 1890s, made it […].” Nixon, Inventory, 2017: “A counterfeit. Probably early 19th century (Jeremy Montagu p.c. 2008).” Further comments: The Musée des Instruments de Musique of Brussels houses a 2x8’ polygonal virginal by Donatus Undeus made in 1623 (Inv. 2034) whose constructive characteristics are similar to how we imagine KG154 was at its original state. In particular, the position of the bridge, of the jackrail, of the rose, the position and the curve of the 8’ nut and the arrangement of the 8’ hitchpins, appear to be very similar. Also the triangular compartments on the back of the case resemble those of KG154. The two specimens differ for the size, D. Undeus’ instrument being slightly smaller than that by his son, and for the registers (2x8’ the former and 4’+8’ the latter). Another known instrument by H. Undeus is mentioned in Boalch 1995: 668 as housed in the Instrumentenkammer of Schloss Ambras, Innsbruck; nevertheless, that entry refers to a specimen described in the 1741 inventory from Ambras: “ein anderes großes Instrument mit einem Clavier, welche roth angestrichen und mit denen Worthen Hieronymus Undeus, Donati filius, Anno 1632 bemerkt ist, in einem weißen alten Fütral” (Senn 1954: 340). To date, that instrument is considered to be lost. (Alfons Huber, p.c., Jan 31, 2018). The fact that the concerned virginal was donated to Kirby strengthens (from our point of view) the hypothesis that the specimen is not to be considered as a proper counterfeit. Furthermore, Kirby’s reference to it in the above quoted letter would suggest that the clumsy intervention occurred after that date (1946), and before the 1967 as in the catalogue (De Lange 1967: 135, 526) the instrument’s description corresponds to its current state. The virginal has been recently attributed to Leopoldo Franciolini, erroneously spelled Fasolini in the online database, the most known forger of antique musical instruments since in 1910 was tried and found guilty of commercial fraud. 213 However, Franciolini was not the only faker of his time, having predecessors up to the 16th century, and his activity as well as that of his collegues should be revised as rather the satisfaction of an increasing demand of antique musical instruments seen as ornamental items sought-after by virtue of their aestetic function.214 References: Boalch 1995: 667-8; De Lange 1967: 135, 526; Mahillon 1900: 430-2; E. M. Ripin, “Franciolini, Leopoldo”, 2001, in Oxford Music Online; E. M. Ripin, D. Wraight, D. Martin, “virginal”, 2001, in Oxford Music Online; Senn 1954: 340. E. M. Ripin, “Franciolini, Leopoldo”, 2001, in Oxford Music Online. 213 Related objects: D. Undeus’ Polygonal Virginal Inv. 2034, Mim, Bruxelles. 11. Lute Hornbostel-Sachs number: 321.321 Johannes Dinumerabo / Hans Rückers / Unidentified Padua, Italy / Antwerp, Belgium 1661 / 1581- c1595 Harp Platform Inv. KG033 Labelled: Joánnes Dinumerábo fecit / in Padoua Anno 1661. Description: Lute with be-partite soundbox consisting of a pear-shaped back and a flat soundboard, with the outline trimmed with blackened wood (now partly missing). The back is built up of twenty-three fluted ribs of blackened wood, shaped and glued together. The rib joints are reinforced on the inside by strips of parchment glued to them, the parchment bearing clearly visible handwriting signs. On the parchment is a paper label composed of printed letters arranged in order to read: Joánnes Dinumerábo fecit | in Padoua Anno 1661. The soundboard, rather damaged, is made of one piece of wood, with the grain running lengthwise. Another rib, the capping strip, made of one piece of blackened wood, is applied transverse to the soundboard, over the joint of the soundboard with the ribs. The back and ribs are gathered at their upper ends 214 Arianna Soldani, Stefano Bardini e gli strumenti musicali (1874-1922), tesi di laurea magistrale in Musicologia e Beni 67 around the neck block, which cannot be seen. A round soundhole is cut in the centre of the soundboard and covered over with a gilded rose by Hans Rückers, which depicts an angel playing a harp with the initials of the maker, “H” and “R”, on either side. The painted decoration on the soundboard appears to be unfinished, as around the rose is a painted garland with eight empty circles; below it, are two masculine figures: a standing man with black headgear, white ruff and black long dress on the left side and an unfinished minstrel with white dress and ruff on the right. The front of the neck is faced with blackened hardwood, flush with the soundboard and cut to form the two “points”. The rear of the neck is formed by eleven ribs of blackened wood with ivory purflings. The top section of the neck is attached to the pegbox forming an acute angle with it, the back side of the pegbox being open, so that the tuning pegs’ shafts can be seen. The neck has no separate fingerboard and across it are knotted nine gut frets. The lower end of the fourteen wire strings is wound on six ivory end-pins on the capping strip and twisted to be fastened. The fourteen strings pass over a wooden bridge leaning across the soundboard and over the ivory nut placed at the edge of the pegbox, and are wound on lateral tuning pegs on the pegbox. The sixteen tuning pegs Musicali, Università degli Studi di Firenze, a.a. 2011-2012., cit. Restelli 2013: 102-3. have different dimensions and appear to date from the same period and to be handmade. The nut is grooved for sixteen strings arranged in six courses: four triple and two double. On the capping strip is a wooden button for the shoulder strap, whereas its counterpart for the strap’s other end is not present. State of preservation: The source instrument must have been a Bolognese lute on account of the pronounced pearshape of its back, built by the luthier Dinumerabo, established in Padua in the second half of the 17th century. The ribs appear to be original and are the most worn-out section of the instrument, being unglued from each other in several spots. That said, there are several clues suggesting a late intervention. First of all, the rose does not match with this type of instrument as the lute has never had this sort of rose, which must have belonged instead to a virginal or harpsichord of the wellknown Flemish maker, Hans Rückers. The neck, as well as the pegbox, is totally extraneous and disproportionate to the body, and was probably cut away from a Paduan theorbo, whose neck is much larger than that of the regular lute (which is normally not larger than 10cm) in order to accommodate a larger number of strings, sixteen in this case. The neck must have been chopped down from an earlier longer one; then matched with a big size pegbox and clumsily fixed to the lute’s back. Finally, the nut – totally extraneous – must have been attached, partly covering the joint of neck and pegbox. Furthermore, the strings are all made of wire – unlike those normally found on this kind of lute which were of gut – and, as such, are wound on endpins of a more recent period and bigger than those normally used for lutes, fixed to the lower side of the back, on the capping strip. The bridge is also odd for the 17th century, rather appearing to be of the 19th century, and has been adjusted to the wire strings. It is possible that the strings had been arranged in triple and double courses by the author of the alteration as both nut and bridge are of a later time and are the only elements suggesting such an arrangement, which was usually used for folk instruments, whereas the neck and the pegbox might have been designed for eight double courses. The paintings on the soundboard are certainly modern. Very little is known about the maker Johannes Dinumerabo. Lütgendorff (1922: 105) mentions him probably on account of the specific instrument owned by Kirby, as he reports the place and date that KG033 bears in its label: Padua 1661. The source of Lütgendorff is Valdrighi, who adds the Dinumerabo’s name to the “list of harmonic instruments’ makers” in the 5th supplement to his work (1894). 215 These data have not been detected for the bridge is movable. 68 The mentioned entry in Lütgendorff 1922, however, oddly disappears in the edition of 1990. Vannes in 1988 (p.85) refers to Dinumerabo as an Italian luthier working in Padua in the second half of the 17th century. Measurements: Overall. l.: 770mm; w.: 350mm; h.: 276mm. Back: l.: 486mm; d.: 205mm; ribs max.-min. w.: 204.8mm; capping strip max.-min. w.: 55-10mm. Neck and pegbox: l.: 284+276mm; max.-min. w.: 106.3-43.6mm; max.-min. th.: 28-23mm. Bridge: l.: 170mm; h.: 13.0mm; max. th.: 9.3mm. Nut: l.: 83.8mm; th.: 8.0mm. Soundhole: ø: 66.4mm; distance from soundboard’s lower rim to the soundhole (centre): 266mm. End pins max./min. ø.: 8.5/ 7.8mm; tuning pegs max./min. w.: 18.0/16.6mm; tuning pegs th.: 7.7mm. Vibrating length of strings: -.215 Historical Documentation: UCT LibrariesW: “In a follow up investigation, Jeremy Montagu found a photograph of the identical rose from a virginal by Rückers. The lute has a most peculiar construction, especially for the 17th century, and the painting on the lid is also odd for that period. It is undoubtedly a counterfeit.” Nixon, Inventory, 2017: […] From estate of M Nachtigal[l].” Further comments: Kirby bought this instrument together with other six specimens for less than 10 pounds during his visit to Europe in 1925, from the estate of the late M. André Nachtigall (M. Nixon, p.c., 2017). References: Bessarabov 1941: 207-11, 22035; Gatti 1998: 188-196; De Lange 1967: 129-30, 507; Lütgendorff 1922: 105; O’Brien 1990: 158-65; Valdrighi 1967 (1894): 19, 4130; Van der Meer 1993: 95-104, Vannes 1988: 85. 12. Hurdy-gurdy (Vielle en luth) with shoulder strap and tuning key Hornbostel-Sachs number: 321.321 Pierre Louvet Paris, France 1739-83 Chordophones 1 Left 05 Inv. KG032, KG074 Engraved on the left side of the keybox: P. LOUVET | À PARIS Description: Walnut? wooden body consisting of a lute-shaped back and a soundboard. The back is built up of nine alternated dark and light wooden ribs and reinforced by the capping strip with the grain running lengthwise and glued across the junction point of the ribs and the soundboard. The soundboard is made of one piece of wood, the grain running parallel to the board’s length, and has two C-shaped soundholes cut near its bottom edge. The soundboard is edged with a black and white ivory tesserae inlay, the tesserae separated from each other and from the soundboard by double purfling of the same alternated colours, the rim being uneven. The keybox extends longitudinally over the soundboard and supports the keyboard, the pegbox projecting from the body of the instrument. The keybox has a hinged lid – the hinges consisting of coiled wire – which opens from the keyboard to reveal the key-tangent mechanism. There are six gut strings, each passing through a hole of an anterior tuning peg and wound on it. The two chanterelle strings pass over a black nut close to the pegbox through the clearance between the keybox and its lid, over the wheel, over the bridge and are knotted to the tailpiece; double notches on the black nut suggest that the chanterelle strings were arranged in two double courses, though there being one peg par pair. The other four strings stick out of as many holes drilled in each of the two pegbox’ lateral faces and pass outside the keybox, two on each side. The trompette string passes over the (now missing) left auxiliary nut glued on the lateral side of the keybox, over a (now lost) small bridge and is knotted to a small ivory bracket on the capping strip. A mouche string passes over the same (missing) nut and over the left side auxiliary bridge on the soundboard, and is attached to the same bracket on the capping strip. On the right-side nut run the petit bourdon and the gros bourdon strings, which pass over another auxiliary nut and an asymmetrical bridge, and are both knotted to another small ivory bracket on the capping strip, right to the crank. Running along the right side of the soundboard are six metal 69 sympathetic strings, fixed on one end to as many forked pins embedded in a wooden block supporting an ebony? nut, the other end of the strings being fixed to six small ivory pins embedded in the capping strip, in proximity to the crank. The vibrating section is delimited by a thin ivory nut on the side of the tailpiece and another ivory nut on the upper edge of the aforesaid wooden block, which has six notches. The twenty-three keys are arranged in two rows: thirteen naturals with plain heads stained black and ten sharps with ivory heads. The keys consist of a shaft with the extremities fitted in two holes bored in the left sides of the keybox, and a plate. When pressed against the keybox, the keys shorten the vibrating length of the chanterelles by means of a pair of wooden tangents slotted in the key’s shaft, projecting upwards. The tangents on the row close to the right side of the keybox have a small piece of white felt glued on the side facing the box, the inner side of the keybox being covered by a felted red strip to quieten the tangents’ return noise. Inside the keybox, on the soundboard, are two sets of nine small holes forming a rhomboidal pattern and having the function of soundholes. The pegbox’ scroll is carved in the likeness of a human head with curly hair and headgear with feather. Its lateral sides are carved with a network of diagonal lines forming rhombuses, having alternatively a five-point star, a flower or a five small dots pattern punched in the centre; at the base of each side is carved a scallop. The pegs have an elliptical shape and are decorated with an ivory pin on top. The keybox lid is decorated with a bordering ivory inlay. The left face of the keybox bears the “typical bell-shape motif” 216 of the Louvets’ instruments. The names of the maker and the place are engraved on the left side of the box: “P. LOUVET | À PARIS”, framed by four trumpet flowers at the angles. The lower part of the keybox’ side, facing the wheel, is carved with the shape of an inverted heart. A similar shape is carved in the lower part of the main bridge. Two small pins stick out of the keybox right rim and are accommodated in two holes set in the inner side of the lid when the latter is closed. An ivory pin is slotted in the pegbox, next to the right upper edge of the keybox and has an arrow-shaped latch to keep the box closed. Between the box and the tailpiece, the strings pass over the rim of the wooden rotary friction wheel, which is set vertically across the soundboard, a half of it projecting above the soundboard, and mounted on a steel? axle with an S-shaped crank and ivory crank handle. The grain of the wheel runs along its circumference surface. The crank set is fixed to the capping strip by means of three flat slotted head screws. The tailpiece, made of blackened wood, is permanently fixed to the end block with two pins. A long ivory peg passes through a hole in the tailpiece and supports the auxiliary string controlling the trompette string. 216 Between the soundbox and the left rib, in proximity to the pegbox, is an ivory ring which serves the function of the lacking device for the trompette. The trompette can be disconnected by hitching it to a small ivory pillar, inserted in the soundboard, next to the wheel. Between the wheel and the keybox is a hole for the lubrication of the wheel’s axle. The wheel is protected by a curved wooden guard plate with a lighter wooden inlay, which can be gripped between two ivory brackets fixed to the belly. Three knobs are fastened to the ribs for the holding strap: two to the capping strip and a third one to the back, below the pegbox. Behind the carved head are two small holes for a short cord, for hanging the instrument up. State of preservation: There are multiple notches and cracks on the soundboard, below the tailpiece and next to the keybox, the latter filled in with glue. A crack around the strap’s pin on the left of the capping strip has been repaired by substituting the broken piece of the dark rib with another piece of wood and gluing it together with the piece of the lighter rib in its position; the pin has been substituted as well with a slightly different one. One black tessera of the soundboard’s inlay is missing and the series is interrupted by three consecutive black tesserae. The inlay has a chipped and uneven rim. The tuning pegs look different from each other and the ivory Baines 1968b: 23-7. 70 pins on top of the mouche and petit bourdon pegs are missing. The left auxiliary nut and the felted circles of some tangents are missing. The main bridge has become dislocated and was previously glued on the soundboard. The rightmost of the endpins for the sympathetic strings is broken: the inserted part of it is stuck in the rib and the pin was substituted by a wooden one placed on the opposite side, next to the bracket for the bourdons. These endpins have different shapes, thus suggesting that they are not all original. The inner side of the wheel guard displays signs of mould. The instrument came with a case which is currently lost. Measurements: Overall l.: 670mm; w.: 265 mm; h. (keybox included): 240mm. Body: l.: -, max. w.: 270mm. Ribs: max.-min. w. at the top: 15.0-9.5mm; max.-min. w. at the bottom: 23.5-18.7mm. Keybox: l.: 290mm; w.: 545mm; h.: pegbox/wheel side: 62.5/ 67.5mm (+6.5/9.5mm including the lid). Min.-max. distance from the soundholes to the soundboard’s rim: right: c 17,845.5mm; left: c 17.8-45.3mm. Friction wheel: ø: c144mm; min. th.: c12mm. Vibrating length of strings: -. Historical Documentation: De Lange 1967: 134-5, 525: “Made by F. Louvet, Paris, about 1735.” Africana Museum 1981: “Hurdy-gurdy / Case / Returned to / Lender october 1981.” Nixon, Inventory, 2017: “This vielle à roue has a shoulder strap, and a tuning key (KG074)/ […] From France (p.c. Jeremy Montagu 2008)/ Kirby dated it as 1735. He bought it and other instruments in Paris from the estate of the late M. André Nachtigal[l]” Further comments: After a comparison with pictures of similar instruments by the Louvet family’s luthiers, the most probable maker of this specimen appears to be Pierre Louvet. His instruments stood out for the accuracy in the making among the works of other luthiers of his epoch, to the point that he was dubbed “Le Stradivari de la vielle”.217 The Louvet family (George L. and his sons Jean “le Jeune” and Pierre) used to make violins, bagpipes, harps, guitars and hurdy-gurdies for which they developed improvements. They were highly appreciated by their contemporaries and were appointed to several honorary offices in their guild. Kirby (see Historical Documentation) dated this specimen to 1735. Nevertheless, according to Lütgendorff (1922), Pierre Louvet made instruments in Paris from 1739 to 1783. On the other hand, Kirby might have not known exactly the maker of his hurdy-gurdy, as in the Catalogue by De Lange the maker appears to be someone named “F. Louvet”, whose name never appears among the well-known luthiers of the Louvet family. Furthermore, on a closer inspection of the name inscribed on the keybox’ face, we would be more 217 prone to interpreting the “F.” referred by De Lange as a “P.” Kirby bought this instrument together with other six specimens for less than 10 pounds during his visit to Europe in 1925, “from the estate of the late M. André Nachtigal[l]” (Nixon, Inventory, 2017). The hurdy-gurdy is registered as accompanied by a tuning key (KG074). Nevertheless, this sort of tool was used for instruments whose strings’ tension was too strong for the tuning pegs to be manually adjusted, which is not the case of the hurdy-gurdy. It is more probable, however, that the tuning key came on its own, as there is no document attesting the existence of any compatible instrument in the collection, and was by mistake coupled with the hurdy-gurdy. References: Baines 1968b: 23-7. Baines 1992: 169-70; Baines 1996: 267; Bessarabov 1949: 339-41; Faletti, Meucci, Rossi Rognoni 2001: 181-4; Galpin 1946: 1515; Gatti 1998: 180-5; The Galpin Society Journal 1968: 87-8; De Lange 1967: 134-5, 525; Lütgendorff 1922: 93-116; Lütgendorff 1990: 376; Vannes 1988: 217. Related objects: E.48, E.49, E.522, E.0627, E.0628, E.1638, in the Collection du musée de la Cité de la Musique, Paris. 13. Violin Hornbostel-Sachs number: 321.322 Pa(s)setti, Italian prisoner of war at Zonderwater Vannes 1988: 2017. 71 (Cullinan), South Africa 1941-47 Cordophone Left 04 Inv. KG145 Handwritten on a paper glued inside: Passetti [L]ino / transval 942 / XXI Description: Violin of simple design and manufacturing with soundboard and back built in one piece of wood (spruce?) each, with black painted ribs and glued joints. On the belly are carved two elongated and plain un-nicked fholes. The neck is wedged in the upper end block button and carries the ebony? fingerboard, which projects above the soundboard for 13.4cm, being slightly tilted back. The small pegbox has a simple asymmetrical scroll, the left second turn being larger and the left eye being carved at a lower level in comparison with those on the right. The four boxwood pegs have hand-carved round heads with uneven rims, on which are wound the four strings: g made of gut wrapped in metal, d' of gut, and a' and e'' of metal, their other end being knotted around the string holes in the tailpiece; here are two fine tuners for the two high pitch strings. The tailpiece is glued to the soundboard and is not fastened to any end button, its end being rounded. State of preservation: The wooden parts and the varnish are in good condition, save for a few notches on the back and on the belly, above the bridge’s position. The bridge is missing but its former position can be identified on the basis of the signs left on the varnish by the glue. The soundpost seems to be not damaged, although the exact position cannot be stated. The g string is broken in proximity to the tuning peg; a thin wire has been used to anchor very loosely the gut end to its tuning peg. The instrument came to Kirby’s collection with a case which is now lost. Measurements: Overall: l.: 617mm; d.: 80mm. Body l.: 364mm; upper bout w.: 172mm; waist w.: 110mm; lower bout w.: 200mm; ribs d.: 28.3mm (left lower corner block), 27.5mm (lower end block); fingerboard l.: 263mm; fingerboard max.-min. w.: 41.523.1mm; right/left soundhole l.: 86.2/85.5mm; min.-max. distance between the soundholes: 42-144mm; scroll l.: 120mm; scroll max. w.: 35.9mm; nut w.: 24mm; bridge estimated l.: c43mm; bridge estimated min.max. w.: c 4-5mm. Historical Documentation: De Lange 1967: 134, 522: “Made by an Italian at Putsonderwater, Cape Province. / The maker was a prisoner of war during World War II.” Africana Museum 1981: “Violin / Case / Returned to Lender / october 1981.” Further comments: This violin was made by an Italian luthier, prisoner of war, who was interned in Zonderwater, the largest POW camp built by 218 Associazione Zonderwater, n.d. the Allies during WWII and exclusively destined to Italians. The camp was situated 43Km north-east from Pretoria and hosted from 1940 to 1947 between 90,000 and 100,000 Italian soldiers captured by the British on the North and East Africa fronts. 218 A big part of the recreational component in the Zonderwater POWs’ life involved music, and luthiers were given the possibility of making instruments, even though with limited means. Pas(s)etti made several instruments during his internment and some of them are displayed in the Zonderwater Museum together with a manuscript of him containing an illustrated story of a violin he made.219 As reported in his autobiography, Kirby visited the camp several times and had always “been welcomed by leading musicians there” (Kirby 1967: 2934). On the occasion of a performance of the University of Cape Ballet and the University Orchestra in 1945, Kirby arranged for some of the Italian musicians of the camp to play for him, since the University ensemble was not sufficient for such an “intensely difficult and very heavily scored” work as Weinberger’s Variations on “Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree” were. References: Baines 1992: 367-74; Kirby 1967: 292-4; De Lange 1967: 134, 522; Somma 2007. 219 220 Somma 2007: 11-7. De Lange 1967: 127, 498. 72 14. Single-action pedal harp Hornbostel-Sachs number: 322.222 Champion220 Paris, France 19th century Harp platform Inv. KG015 No mark Description: Single action by crochets. Soundbox including body-shell of dark wood with contrary grain, with added soundboard and five oval swells placed in as many carved gild rectangular sections in the middle of the body. The lower ends of the forty-one strings are fixed in the inner centre strip, under the wooden upper string bar, which run down the centre of the soundboard, and are held by the staples, thick wooden pins with ball heads. The string bar is reinforced by an overlying strip which goes from the exit of the G♭ string to that of the d♭ string. The upper ends of the strings are wound on tuning pins set along the neck, on the left side. The pins pass through the neck and are tuned on the further side by separate square head tuning pegs. The straight front pillar is gilt and fluted and has gilded carved decorations at its base and top. At its lower part is a carved row of acanthus leaves, above which is a plaiting row. On the upper part of the pillar are two rows of various leaves, the capital and a row with leaves and baskets of fruits on top. The capital is dec- orated with three female figures with a flower garland wrapped around their body, above which are three female heads in high relief with floral crowns and veils, alternated with high leaves, the upper part of which is jutting. At the sides of the neck are two gilt wooden sheets fastened by means of five slotted round head screws, the linkage being inside. The strings wound on the pins on top, lean against the fixed bridge pins and pass below the crochets which, when operated by the correspondent pedal, shorten the vibrating length of the strings of the correspondent note in every octave by a semitone. Seven pedals, one for each note of the diatonic scale, protrude from the wooden pedal box. The pedals are for D, C, B (on the left side for the left foot); E, F, G, A (on the right side for the other foot). Each pedal has two positions and a spring to return it to the “up” position, giving the note as a flat. The pedal box is sustained by four vaguely zoomorphic feet and is decorated with plaster work: on the front rib, slightly bent, is a flower between two leaves; on the upper face of the front are two griffons. Compass: F♭– d''''' State of preservation: Mould is largely present on the soundboard as well as on the gut strings. The c''', f''', a''', d'''', a'''', b'''' strings are broken. The c''' string’s wooden pin is missing. The most damaged section is that of the plaster work on the pillar: long cracks are scattered, one of the female figures of the capital has been scratched off. The tuning pins on the neck are not like each other, thus suggesting that some of them are not original. Measurements: Soundbox: l. at side: 1202mm; l. at centre: 1175mm; upper/lower end w.: 86/363mm; max.-min. d.: 247-59mm. Swells (from the uppermost, downwards): ø (h.xw.): 66.0x10.0/84.8x14.8/95.3x22.1 /112.2x33.8/28.2x44.1mm; d.: 15.7mm. String-bar: l.: 1138mm; maxmin. w.: 27.5-11.0mm. Neck: curve/straight l.: 1010/ 995mm; max.-min. w.: 145.569.3mm; max.-min. d.: 6349mm. Tuning pegs’ max.-min. ø: 6.7-4.3mm. Pillar: l.: 1548mm; ø at the level of the capital: 168mm; min. ø: 54.7mm; ø at the base: 92.6mm. Pedal: max.-min. l.: 15088.5mm; max.-min. w.: 24.213.5mm; th.: 6.3mm. Pedal box: l.: 342mm; w.: 445mm; h.: 92mm. Strings: vibrating length: F♭-B♭: 1447/1407/1378/1343; c♭-b♭:1335/1275/1240/1200/ 1158/1120/1073; c'♭-b'♭:1023/966/907/846/785/ 726/673; c''♭-b''♭: 620/595/528/490/452/ 420/389; c'''♭-b'''♭: 364/334/314/292/ 270/252/232; c''''♭-b''''♭: 214/200/180/163/ 146/134/121; c'''''♭-d'''''♭: 105/94mm. Historical Documentation: De Lange 1967: 127, 498: “Used at the time of the Empress Josephine. A duplicate is in Malmaison.” 73 Nixon, Inventory, 2017: “Collected in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.” Further comments: In the 1967 catalogue this specimen is recorded as made by a certain Champion in Paris and it is said to have a duplicate, housed in Mailmaison Castle. Nevertheless, the Castle currently houses one harp, which belonged to the Empress Joséphine, made by Georges Cousineau and his son JacquesGeorge (Cousineau Père et fils) in c1800, and which displays the chevilles tournantes system patented by G. Cousineau. Furthermore, the famous Harpe de l’Impératrice Joséphine has eight pedals and differs from KG015 in several aspects, the most evident being the pillar, which is slimmer, with a simpler and more elegant design and squared capital with gilt eagle on top. Nothing do we know, however, about Champion, except for he is mentioned by Valdrighi (1967: 19, 626) as a French maker specialized in the making of tam-tam. References: See KG126. De Lange 1967: 127, 498. Valdrighi 1967: 19, 626. Related objects: Harpe de l’Imperatrice Joséphine, in Musée national des châteaux de Malmaison & Bois Préau, France. 15. Double-action pedal harp Hornbostel-Sachs number: 322.212.1 J. F. Brown London, United Kingdom 19th century, after 1820 Harp Platform Inv. KG126 Engraved on right brass plate of the neck towards the head of the harp: (coat of arms of the United Kingdom) IMPROVED / PATENT / N 121. / FROM J F Brown ERARDS / N°5 Lower Southampton Street, Fritzroy Squ.e / LONDON Description: Double-action harp with discs with double pins (mécanique à fourchettes). The soundbox, made of dark varnished wood, with cross-grain, has a semi-circular section composed of five slats glued together, with light veneer. In the back are five rectangular swells placed in gilded inlayed wooden slots. The body’s rim and the swells’ edges are decorated with gilded double purfling. The soundboard, made of a single piece of wood, is pierced down the centre line with a row of forty-four holes on the stringbar, in which the lower ends of the gut strings are held by wooden staples with ball heads, whereas the eight wire strings are directly fixed to the matching bar on the inside, so that there are no corresponding pins sticking out of the soundboard. The upper end of the strings is wound on wooden tuning pins along the curved neck. The pins pass through the neck and are tuned on the further side by separate square head tuning pegs. The soundboard is carved at the left and at the right of the stringbar with a wavy line and stylised foliage ornaments, whereas on its lower part are two winged figures emerging from a stylised acanthus leaf. The straight front pillar is dark with twenty gilt flutes and decorated in the Greek style with gilded plaster work at its upper and lower ends. The Empire style capital is built in five sections, the largest of which decorated with three Caryatidis, which hold a basket with flowers and fruits with one hand and have another basket with fruits on their head; the figures are alternated with one acanthus leaf in correspondence of each basket, for a total of four. The above decoration section has three couples of geniuses holding a lyre with one hand and a natural trumpet on the other, the bell of the instrument leaning on the ground. The lower end of the pillar resembles the capital, bearing reliefs of six stylised acanthus leaves, above which is a row of carved flowers. Its central section is delimited by two rows of carved grapes and vine leaves. An elegant gilded ornament on the shoulder is now mostly vanished. At the sides of the neck are two brass plates fastened by means of fifteen slotted truss head screws, between which is the linkage. The small discs of the mechanism, with projecting pins between which the strings pass (two acting each string), are visible on the surface of one of the brass slabs, the mechanism plate. On the same slab, above the line of the discs, is a row of wooden bridge pins. The wooden base consists of a top to which the pillar and the soundbox are attached with bolts and an underlying gilt box, which accommodates the eight pedals. Seven pedals, from left 74 to right, are one for each note of the diatonic scale: D, C, B (left foot); E, F, G, A (right foot). The eighth pedal – between B and E – serves the scope of increasing or decreasing the sound volume while adjusting the opening of the swells. The openings for the pedals have a double notch so that each pedal has three positions and a spring to return it to the upper position, giving the note as a flat, as the string sounds with its full length; when the pedals are lowered to first notch, the pins on the revolving discs in the neck shorten the strings by a semitone to give the natural; when lowered to second notch, the pins on the discs shorten the strings by a whole tone to give the sharp. The gut C strings are coloured red and the F strings are blue. The decorations of the base consist of carved gilt scallops: two on the bent front rib and one on the left and right sides. The base is sustained by four vaguely zoomorphic feet. The inscription is on the brass slab on the player’s right. It is framed by festoons and a coat of arms from which a lion and a unicorn emerge, on the left and on the right respectively. Compass: E♭ – f '''''♯ State of preservation: The body-shell wood has various notches and the varnish has peeled in several spots. There is mould on the junction points of the soundbox’ slats and on the top of the base. Cracks are along the joints of the swells’ inlayed edges. Signs of oxidation are visible on most of the surface of the brass plates. One of the screws used to fix the brass plates to the neck has lost its head; another screw is slotted, unlike the others, suggesting its replacement at a later time. The gut strings are largely covered by mould and the a, b, d', f', g', a', f'' strings are broken. The gilded reliefs of the pillar have multiple cracks; some parts are even missing and allow the white colour of the plaster work to be half-seen. The ornamental line between the brass slabs and the neck’s upper edge is fragmented and largely missing. Measurements: Soundbox: l. at side: 1254mm; l. at centre: 1217mm; upper/lower end w.: 85/335mm; max.-min. d.: 180-61mm. Soundholes (from the uppermost, downwards): l.: 151/151/ 157/170/178mm; max.-min. w.: 32-24/41-34/50-44/61-52/6864mm; d.: 17.8mm. String-bar: l.: 1230mm; max.-min. w.: 2414mm. Neck: curve/straight l.: 1104mm/ c825mm; max.-min. w.: 18-6mm; max.-min. d.: 3836mm. Tuning pegs’ max.-min. ø: 5.8-4.8mm. 221 Pillar: l.: 1577mm; ø at the level of the capital: 15.4mm; min. ø: 59mm; ø at the base: 120mm. Pedal mechanism: discs’ max.min. ø: 7.4-5.1mm. Pedal: max.-min. l.: 12-7mm; max.min. w.: 14-22mm; th.: 5mm. Pedal box: l.: 340mm; w.: 455mm; h.: 143mm. Strings: vibrating length: E♭-B♭: 1470/1440/1410/1377/1340; c♭-b♭: 1300/1260/1220/1197/1150/11 00/1045; c'♭-b'♭: 993/927/865/813/646/672/614; c''♭-b''♭: 563/517/482/446/408/379/351; c'''♭-b'''♭: 321/306/273/253/233/216/202; c''''♭-b''''♭: 186/171/159/157/136/126/116; c'''''♭- f'''''♭: 107/95/82/73mm. Historical Documentation: De Lange 1967: 127, 497: “Made: J.F. Brown, London, in the 19th century.” Further comments: Vannes (1988: 44) refers to three members of the English Brown family, all luthiers and all named James. They were all Van der Meer 2008: 407. 75 known and particularly appreciated for their bows. James Brown I (1759-1834) established his workshop at the beginning of the 19th century in Spitafields and stood out for his making of orchestral instruments; his son (1786-1860) built also violons, for a certain period in Norton Folgate; the grandson built instruments between 1813 and 1834 in London and is probably the maker of the harp owned by Kirby. The instrument displays constructive and decorative characteristics of the harps made by Erard, who patented the doubleaction harp with discs with double pins (mécanique à fourchettes) in 1811. Erard produced the so-called “harp grecque” with forty-three strings until about 1840.221 References: Baines 1968b, v.2: 74-81; Baines 1992: 147-52; Baines 1996: 64-69; Bessarabov 1941: 207-19; Gatti 1998: 411-9; De Lange 1967: 127, 497; Van der Meer 1993: 134-142; Van der Meer 2008: 386-501; Vannes 1988: 44. Aerophones In this collection a majority of instruments belongs to the category of aerophones, comprising ten keyedtransverse flutes; eleven duct flutes (a galoubet, three penny whistles and seven recorders of different sizes, the smallest one being a picco pipe); five ocarinas (four in compliance with the Budrio’s tradition, another one made in Madeira as souvenir); four oboes; five clarinets; and a small but diversified group of natural and chromatic labrosones, predominantly from United Kingdom and France. The transverse flutes in the collection come from either London or Paris, only an ivory specimen having unidentified author. All date from 19th century save for the Rudall & Carte flute (KG066) made at the beginning of the 20th century; the eldest one being probably a four-keyed-flute by Bainbridge, London, dating from c1803-1834 (KG097). Besides KG066, which displays an alteration of the Boehm key system with a closed G♯ key, patented by Rudall & Carte and intended to make the new system easier for players of the old system, the other flutes have between one and nine open/closed keys on different mounts’ types. The earliest ones have the keys pivoted by a brass pin inserted into a ring-shaped projection in the wood of the joint itself (“block mounting”). An early metal key-mounting is a saddle, screwed to the joint and traversed by a pin by which the key is pivoted; the “saddle mounting” was often used in the first half of the 19th century, sometimes together with the block mounting. Pillar mountings appeared from 1807 and were improved in the 1830s, with the touch and the flap branching each from either end of a pillar-mounted axle, called “barrel”, this system being called “pillar-and-needle mounting”.222 In the Boehm system flute, all the holes are covered by finger-plates, as the diameter and the position depend on acoustical needs and cannot be always covered by the fingers, and the plates and keys are mounted on pillar-and-needle. A group of recorders of various sizes represents in the collection the revival of the baroque recorder, first carried out by Arnold Dolmetsch from 1919. One of these specimens was made by Dolmetsch in person for Prof. Kirby (KG070); a set of four more recorders was made by Peter Harlan in Markneukirchen, a German town famous for instrument production since the middle of the 17th century. Instrument making first developed in Markneukirchen when Bohemian luthiers began settling in the area and consisted at the beginning in the production of violins; wind instrument making begun in the second half of the 18th century. When most of the western Bohemian instrument makers left their homes after WWII to establish new instrument-making locations in Bavaria, the market for inexpensive German violins decreased, and the demand for historical instruments, which was initiated in Markneukirchen by Peter Harlan, increased.223 The baroque recorder was in use from early 17th to early 18th century and the twentieth-century instruments built in resemblance with it were normally constructed in three joints fitted together by tenon and mortise: the head joint with the beak mouthpiece and the other joints forming a conical open tube, the bore at the lower end being narrow. They have one thumbhole and seven fingerholes, the lowest of them for the right little finger, accommodated in the foot joint and covered on larger size recorders by one open key. A wooden block is inserted into the blowing end to form a flat windway to the rectangular window where the tone is generated. These constructive features, save for the construction in detachable joints, are typical also of the other duct flutes of the collection, such as the galoubet, the penny whistles, and the picco pipe. The latter is a small three-holed flute played with one hand, normally similar in appearance and construction to the baroque flute and became well-known in Europe from the first half of the 19th century thanks to Giuseppe Picchi. Galpin (1978: 112-3, 1st ed. 1910) considers the picco pipe to be the smallest size of the recorder family and the last stage of the musical life of the recorder in Europe, for it has been used until mid-20th century.224 222 Baines 1996: 77-8, 313. E. Weller, “Markneuerkirchen”, 2015, in Oxford Music Online. 224 Guizzi 2008: 42. 223 76 Sachs in his Real-Lexikon der Musikinstrumente (Berlin 1913, cit. Guizzi 2008) recognizes the picco pipe as the smallest size illustrated by Praetorius (Syntagma Musicum, plate IX),225 which means that this instrument dates from Renaissance.226 Giuseppe Picchi, erroneously known for a long time as “the Sardinian minstrel”, was the son of two farmers from Bobbio, Italy, and was born blind around 1830. He used to perform on a siòl, an inexpensive and small flute sold in street markets and local fairs, made mainly for children as musical toy, and thus coloured in red with aniline.227 It was the smaller size of a wooden flute production to which many artisans and peddlers devoted on the Bergamasque Alps, especially in the Valle Imagna and was sometimes called wooden “piffero” or “tibia rusticale”.228 Picchi started to perform from house to house and achieved such a mastery on this instrument that started to perform first in Milan in 1854 and arrived in London in 1856, where he met a great success at Covent Garden, to the point that instrument makers in London started to produce an instrument like his own’s, made of boxwood, in a more sophisticated version conformed to the constructive ability of the Londoner makers, accustomed to make flutes for amateur aristocrats. Its success occurred apparently only in England, and its current traces are restricted to the English musical environment, in particular to that of the ancient music enthusiasts. 229 Another flute, the ocarina, shared the same destiny of the picco pipe, as its lacking possibility of intensity modulation impeded its dissemination among the musicians as well as its use in orchestras. On the other hand, by virtue of its low cost and limited size, it was soon widespread among the children and folk music amateurs throughout Western Europe. The ocarina’s origins can be identified in the small whistle with goose-like shape – whence its name, which means “little goose” – made usually of clay, with two fingerholes in the body and the embouchure in the tail, common in Northern Italy during the 19th century. The inventor of Budrio’s ocarina, Giuseppe Donati, from Budrio (Bologna), increased the whistle’s fingerholes to elicit an entire octave compass from it and placed the embouchure in the instrument’s head around 1853-54.230 Afterwards, specimens made of metal and tin appeared as well as different sizes – the notes being determined by the instrument's volume, and by the number and size of the opened fingerholes, irrespective of their position around the vessel – and in mid-20th century keys were occasionally applied to ocarinas. Many makers devised improvements, and even a double ocarina was invented, first by Luigi Silvestri with the aim of enlarging the compass; the double ocarina consisted of an ocarina inside another one and was transformed by Antonio Canella, thus resulting in the “biocarina”, which consisted of two overlapping ocarinas with two embouchures next to each other. Subsequently, Emilio Cesari constructed a triple ocarina.231 Donati and Canella devised also ocarinas with valves to serve the scope of changing the pitch. The first ocarinas quintet appeared only ten years after the invention of the instrument, in 1863; named “concerto delle ocarine” and promoted by Donati,232 it gained success not only in private occasions, but also in theatres. Donati begun to sell his instruments in local fairs and markets and in 1867 started to produce ocarinas in his own workshop. In 1878 he moved to Bologna and established a branch in Milan in 1904, where he moved its factory three years later, guarding against the competition represented by the firms of Cesare Vicinelli in Budrio and Praetorius 1619: plate IX: “Picco pipe, engl. Kleine Blockfloete, 11-12 cm lang, mit 3 Finegrloechern, das “Klein Plockfloetein” des Praetorius; um die Mitte 19. Jhs. In London von einem blinden Bauern namens Picco virtuos gespielt, der mit Benutzung dei Muendung als vierten Griflfochs dem Instrument 3 Oktaven abgewann.” 226 Guizzi 2008: 42-43. 227 Guizzi 2008: 58. 228 Guizzi 2008: 54. 229 Guizzi 2008: 43-59. 230 Adversi 1963: 29. 231 Adversi 1963: 27. 232 Adversi 1963: 30. 225 77 Antonio Canella in Ferrara. 233 Although Donati moved away from the ocarina’s birthplace, Budrio remained the only place where a sort of tradition of ocarinas handcraft endured. Among the most famous ocarina makers are Canella, maker of KG083, and Vicinelli who started his production after Donati left Budrio. Guido Chiesa, a pupil of Vicinelli, succeeded to him after his death, in 1920, and Emilio Cesari, another pupil of him, produced ocarinas independently from 1920 to 1927.234 As mentioned above, the collection comprises also four simple-system oboes, all made in the 18th century, and by well-known makers from London, Paris, Vienna and Hannover, and five clarinets, predominantly from Germany and England. The sub-section of labrosones comprises a natural horn (KG006) made by Marcel-Auguste Raoux, facteur de Cors du Roi from the end of the 1830s; two natural trumpets (KG012, KG138), one serpent (KG026), all of unknown origins; a keyed bugle (KG029) and an ophicleide (KG030), the former of the early model with five keys invented by Joseph Haliday in 1810 and patented in 1821, the latter being a tenor size of the same instrument. The keyed bugle consort was soon used in orchestras but met more success in the USA, where it has been used in solos and band pieces and established an important tradition.235 Four instruments of the collection belong to the slide trumpet sub-class, two being modern trombones, and other two being of an earlier type, known as “slide trumpet” or “trompette à coulisse”. The latter represented a novelty in the 15th century for its slide-return mechanism, thus being the common ancestor of the trumpet and trombone. 236 Towards the end of the 18th century, natural F trumpets had begun to appear, associated with crooks for lower keys. The first slide device was the spring-clock mechanism, displayed in the collection by Shaw & Co.’s KG011; followed by slide-return devices which consisted of an expansion spring or a rubber cord with the same spring mechanism. 237 The slide trumpet played an important role in English music for nearly a century; the first mention of it occurs at the end of James Hyde’s Compleat Preceptor for the Trumpet and Bugle Horn (London 1st ed. c1798) in the form of Observations on the Chromatic Trumpet, invented by J. H. Hyde, and made by Woodham.238 A late stage of the slide trumpet's evolution was the Wyatt double-slide trumpet, herein illustrated by Wyatt’s KG021, patented in 1890 as a final alternative to the upcoming valve. Finally, a pocket cornet (KG028) and a trumpet (KG013), both made in France, illustrate the first and the last stage of the evolutionary process towards the chromatism on labrosones achieved by means of valves. The post cornet has three valves of the typology devised by Heinrich David Stölzel in 1814, commonly used in France, Italy and England until the 1840s, in France being favourited for the inexpensive models of cornet for a longer time. The Stölzel valves encouraged many inventors and manufacturers to exploit the new technology, this activity resulting in the invention of many types of valves, among which, however, a few main typologies have shown to be most successful: besides the Stölzel valve, improved by Stölzel in 1827, are the “box valve”, patented jointly by Friedrich Blühmel and Stölzel in 1818 after an intuition of the former; the “Vienna valve”, developed by Joseph Riedl and Joseph Kail in 1823; the “Berlin valve” patented by Wilhelm Wieprecht in 1833; the “rotary valve”, patented in 1835 by Riedl and Kail; and the Périnet piston valve, invented in 1838 by François Périnet of Paris,239 illustrated in the Kirby collection by a trumpet made by the award-winning Antoine Courtois and Mille (KG013). 233 Adversi 1963: 32. Adversi 1963: 37-9. 235 Morley Pegge 1956: 93-6; R. T. Dudgeon, “Keyed bugle”, 2001, in Oxford Music Online. 236 Webb 1993: 262. 237 Webb 1993: 264-8. 238 Wolpowitz 1969: 10. 239 Baines 1976, trad. It.: 189-246; M. Sarkissian, E. H. Tarr, “Trumpet”, 2001, in Oxford Music Online. 234 78 16. Transverse flute 4 joints, 1 key Hornbostel-Sachs number: 421.121.12 Metzler London, United Kingdom 19th century Aerophones Centre 04 Inv. KG096 Stamped on the front of each joint: METZLER / LONDON Description: Inverted conoidal bore from the head joint down. The boxwood tube is built in four joints fitted together by tenon and mortise and turned with slight taper on outside (“mouldings”). The tenons are wrapped with a white silk? waxed thread to secure the air-tightness. There are no rings on the mortises to prevent them from cracking. The head joint has the elliptical mouth-hole in its side, above which, at a distance nearly to the radius of the bore, the tube is closed by a stopper of cork, which enters 29mm inside the upper end of the head joint. The stopper is at present not adjustable and the cap bears a wooden stem wrapped with threads. Six plain fingerholes are bored in the main joints, three in the front of each section. The instrument has only one closed key for e'♭, with a flat square flap (common in late 17th century) on block mounting in the foot joint. A spring is soldered to the rear of the key’s touch, the key keeping closed when at rest. Size: concert flute in d' Keys: one closed key for e'♭ on block mounting. State of preservation: Two cracks (c77mm and c81mm long) extending along the moulding of the head joint have been repaired with glue, which leaked through the cracks, reaching the threads around the lower joint’s tenon and slightly corroding the surrounding wood. The thread around the lower joint’s tenon is in turn wrapped with transparent adhesive tape. In general, the wrappings are not original. The wood has turned black in proximity to the joint-junctions and oxidation signs can be seen all around the brass key. The pad which covered the key’s flap is missing, so that the flap does not overlap completely the hole when the key is closed. Measurements: Overall l.: 602mm. Head joint l.: 222mm; upper joint l.: 150mm; lower joint l.: 130mm; foot joint l.: 91.5mm; sounding l.: 560mm; distance from stopper’s end to head joint’s rim: 29.0mm; head joint upper/lower end ø: c 18/17mm; head joint inner/outer ø at level of the mouth-hole: c 17/28mm; head joint max. outer ø: 32.5mm; lower end inner/outer ø: 13.7/ 21.0mm; mouth-hole ø (longit. x transv.): 11.6x10.0mm; fingerholes ø: 6.6/5.7/6.6/6.8/ 6.8/6.5mm; distance from fingerholes to mouth-hole (centre to centre): 100.9/137.3/174,1/ 234.3/268.0/302.2mm. Headcap: outer ø: 28.0mm; stem ø (unwrapped): 17.6mm; stem h.: 12.7mm; cap h.: 8.2mm. 79 Further comments: The eldest instruments maker of Metzler family was Valentine, who established in London in 1788 and established the firm Metzler & Son in 1816 with his son George Richard. From 1833 the business had been carried on until 1936 under the name Metzler & Co, George Richard’s son, George Thomas, together with Frank Chappell being proprietors from 1880. References: Baines 1996: 8590; Baines 1991: 52; Baines 1992: 116; Bessarabov 1947:52-60; De Lange 1967: 104, 413; Waterhouse 1993: 261-2. 17. Transverse flute 4 joints, 1 key Hornbostel-Sachs number: 421.121.12 Gautrot aîné Paris, France 1845-1877 Aerophones Centre 04 Inv. KG132 Stamped on head joint, below the embouchure: (lyre) / GAUTROT AINE / BREVETÉ / A PARIS / CANONGIA & C / RUA NOVA / DO ALMADA N°66a6 / A LISBOA / (four converging arrows) Description: Inverted conoidal bore from the head joint down. The boxwood tube is built in four joints fitted together by tenon and mortise and mounted with ornamental ivory rings. Similar to KG096 in construction and arrangement of the fingerholes, with an elliptical mouth-hole in the head joint and a closed key on the foot joint, for the right little finger. The joints are turned with thickenings over the mortises. The wooden threaded tenons are wrapped with claret waxed threads. The head joint is closed at its upper end by a stopper of cork, with a detachable head-cap at the top end, the cap having a threaded stem lapped with a white thread, an ivory inlaid rim and a small hole at its rounded top. The brass? key for e'♭ is on pillar mounting and has a round flap and an elliptical touch. The rear of the flap is covered with a white leather pad to avoid damages to the wood when the key is operated. Size: concert flute in d' Keys: one closed key for e'♭ on pillar mounting. State of preservation: The tube is rather bent on its upper part. There is a visible crack on the foot joint, extending about ⅔ of the joint’s length. Signs of oxidation can be found in proximity to the key’s mounting and on the key proper. The thread around the head-cap’s stem is broken and largely absent. The head and upper joints are stuck, as well as the head-cap. Measurements: Overall l.: 615mm. Head joint l.: 219mm; upper joint l.: 175mm; lower joint l.: 123mm; foot joint l.: 89mm; sounding l.: 542mm; distance from stopper’s end to head joint’s rim: 39.0mm; head joint upper/lower end ø: 18.2/-; head joint inner/outer ø at level of the mouth-hole: c22/27.5mm; head joint max. outer ø: 30.5mm; lower end foot joint inner/outer ø: 14.5/21.0mm; mouth-hole ø (longit. x transv.): 11.0x10.4mm; fingerholes ø: 6.6/6.4/6.6/6.5/6.0/6.3mm; distance from fingerholes to mouth-hole (centre to centre): 201.2/237.2/273.3/332.9/369.0/ 404.2mm. Head-cap: outer ø: 26.2mm; stem ø (unwrapped): 18.3mm; stem h.: 11.0mm; cap h.: 8.4mm. Further comments: The firm Gautrot aîné was established in 1845 by Pierre Louis Gautrot as successor of Guichard and became soon one of the most important factories of Brass instruments in Europe. In 1875 the name of GautrotMarquet was registered and thereafter used for “1er choix” instruments, Gautrot aîné designating those of “2em choix.” In 1877 the firm was re-named Gautrot aîné-Durand et Cie. The firm supplied instruments for many other makers. Besides the trademark of the maker, KG132 bears the name and the address of Canongia & Ca., late 19th century dealers from Lisboa. References: See K096; De Lange 1967: 104, 414; Waterhouse 1993: 56, 12930. 18. Transverse flute 4 joints, 4 keys Hornbostel-Sachs number: 421.121.12 William Bainbridge London, United Kingdom c1803-1834 Aerophones Centre 04 80 Inv. KG097 Stamped on the front of head joint: (crown) / BAINBRIDGE / LONDON On upper joint, on top; on lower joint, between the 4th and 5th fingerholes; on foot joint, on the front, and very unclear: BAINBRIDGE Description: Boxwood flute in four joints with inverted conoidal bore, ivory rings and silver? closed keys on wooden saddle and block mountings. The joints are fitted together as in KG096 and KG132. The head joint has an elliptical mouth-hole and is closed by a cork stopper. The ring at its wider end differs from the others by material and appearance, being not yellowed, but whiter, and having two black inlaid rings instead of raised rims bordered with a black purfling. The cork stopper, rather damaged, was conically threaded and extended to 22,5mm away from the head joint’s wider opening. The head-cap is also of a different material, similar to that of the upper ring, having a black purfling along its lower rim and three more concentric purflings on the top surface. The cap is meant to carry a thread which matches with the threaded stopper end, so that the stopper can be shifted, and has a small rod projecting from the centre. The current stem of the head-cap is not threaded and the small rod top resembles an ivory indicator of the stopper’s position. The upper joint has two threaded tenons: the upper one is wrapped with a thread; the lower one is lapped with a thin- ner thread, which became black after being waxed. The lower joint accommodates two brass keys, which are of the same typology of that described for KG096, even though smaller, the flap being covered with a squared metal plate with round felted pad. The lower joint has a tenon wrapped with white thread and adhesive tape and supports one cross key. The foot joint accommodates one key with a covered pad. The lower end of the foot joint has an ornamental ivory rim. Size: concert flute in d' Keys: four closed keys for e'♭, f', g'♯ and b'♭ on wooden saddle mountings, save for the lowest one, pivoted in a slot carved in the foot joint’s lower moulding. State of preservation: There are multiple cracks around the head joint’s moulding (the longest ones having a length of c58mm and c63mm). c35mm crack on the lower joint’s moulding. The pad of the cross key (F) is missing. There are black oxidation signs on the wood below the key’s flap and generally in proximity to the keys. Part of the raised ring on the ivory ring between the upper and lower joint has been scraped off. Measurements: Overall l.: 592mm. Head joint l.: 206mm; upper joint l.: 161mm; lower joint l.: 123mm; foot joint l.: 88mm; sounding l.: 525mm; distance from stopper’s end to head joint’s rim: 25.2mm; head joint upper/lower end inner ø: 18.4/18.2mm; head joint in240 ner/outer ø at level of the mouth-hole: c 17.5/28.6mm; head joint max. outer ø: 32.7mm; lower end foot joint inner/outer ø: 12.6/23.5mm; mouth-hole ø (longit. x transv.): 11.2x10.7mm; fingerholes ø: 6.5/6.5/5.5/6.5/7.5/5.0mm; distance from fingerholes to mouth-hole (centre to centre): 205.6/241.4/277.5/339.3/372.7/ 409.4mm. Head-cap: outer ø: 28.2mm; stem ø: 18.5mm; stem h.: 13.0mm; cap h.: 13.7mm. Further comments: William Bainbridge produced woodwind instruments in London from c1803 until 1834, in the years 1808-1821 being in partnership with John Wood as Bainbridge & Wood. References: See K096; De Lange 1967: 103, 412; Waterhouse 1993: 16-7. 19. Transverse flute 4 joints, 5 keys Hornbostel-Sachs number: 421.121.12 Godfroy aîné Paris, France c1860-1888 Aerophones Centre 04 Inv. KG095 Stamped On head joint, above the ivory ring; on upper joint; on lower joint, between 4th and 5th fingerholes; on foot joint, below the key, on front: (face in sunburst) / GODFROY AINÉ / * On head joint, below the ivory ring; on upper joint, between 1st and 2nd fingerholes; on lower joint, between 5th and 6th Young 1993: xi. 81 fingerholes, on front: * / A PARIS /* Engraved on the second ivory rim: 1380 Description: Boxwood flute made in four tapering joints with ivory rings having narrow raised rims bordered by single blackened purfling. The elliptical mouthhole is bored in the head joint, which is closed at its wider side by a screw-cork stopper. An ivory ring is inserted around the head joint, placed at ¾ from the top of its length. A rounded head-cap with ivory rim and ivory threaded indicator closes the head joint’s wider end. The threaded wooden tenons are lapped with waxed threads, the larger one of the lower joint being in turn covered with adhesive transparent tape. The silver keys are all closed and mounted on soldered pillars with a half-moon-shaped (“crescent”) 240 plate which is fastened to the joint by means of two little screws. The flap side shank is accommodated in a slot with an arrow-shaped plate screwed to the joint’s wood, whereas the other shank’s side has a C-shaped section in order to pass over the cross key. The keys’ round flaps and the rear of the keys’ touches are covered with cork pads. Size: concert flute in d' Keys: five closed keys on pillar mountings for e'♭, f’, long f ', g'♯ (cross key), b'♭. State of preservation: There is a deep crack in the head joint’s ivory ring and one along the lower wooden part of the head joint, continuing on the ivory ring below. Signs of oxidation are evident below the keys, on and around the mountings. The head cap is at present stuck in the head joint. The top cap is missing, so that the threaded ivory indicator is visible, the cork inside the head-cap being also threaded. The flap’s pads of the F and G♯ keys and the touch’s pads of the E♭ and B♭ keys are missing. Measurements: Overall l.: 604mm. Head joint l. (+ head-cap): 160+60mm; upper joint l.: 170mm; lower joint l.: 128mm; foot joint l.: 91mm; sounding l.: 534mm; distance from stopper’s end to head joint’s rim: -; head joint upper/lower end ø: -/c 18mm; head joint inner/outer ø at level of the mouth-hole: c17/27.0mm; head joint max. outer ø: 28.0mm; lower end foot joint inner/outer ø: 16.2/21.0mm; mouth-hole ø (longit. x transv.): 10.7x8.9mm; fingerholes ø: 6.3/6.4/5.6/6.1/ 6.0/5.2mm; distance from fingerholes to mouth-hole (centre to centre): 212.4/246.9/283.7/ 345.1/381.3/416.0mm. Head-cap: outer ø: 26.8mm; stem ø: -; stem h.: -; cap h.: 13.0mm. Further comments: In 1827 the firm warned on newspapers against counterfeits, their instruments being numbered ever since. The date has been deduced by comparing the serial number 241 T. Giannini, Great Flute Makers of France: the Lot and Godfroy families, 1650-1900, stamped on the instrument to the dating reference provided by Giannini.241 References: See K096; De Lange 1967: 104, 417; Waterhouse 1993: 139. 20. Transverse flute 4 joints, 5 keys Hornbostel-Sachs number: 421.121.12 Unknown France? 19th century Aerophones Centre 04 Inv. KG098 No mark Description: Flute in four joints and conoidal bore, made of ivory with silver rings and silver? keys on pillar mountings. Manufacturing and proportions are akin to those of KG095, particularly the design of the five closed keys, mounted on pillar on crescent plates, the main difference being the position of the cross key (F), whose flap and corresponding hole are less leftsided than those of the comparing specimen, so that the shank of the long F key on the same joint passes over the flap of the F key and not over its shank. The E♭ key has a carved flower on the outer face of the flap. The keys’ touches and flaps are covered with leather pads. The rear of the touches has a cork pad to avoid damages to the underlying ivory when the keys are operated. The three tenons are differLondon: Bingham, 1993, cit. Waterhouse 1993: 139. 82 ent from each other: the uppermost one is cork lapped and wrapped with a red waxed thread; the middle one is lapped with white silk thread, probably of a later period; and the downmost tenon is covered with a thick layer of cork and finished with an ivory ring at its lower rim. The rings are carved with narrow lines and have a raised rim on either side. The wider end of the head joint is closed with an ornately carved head cap, with a rounded shape as that of KG095, transversal flutings on its outer surface and a threaded inner stem attached to a screw, around which the cork stopper is tightened. The head cap has an ivory indicator. Size: concert flute in d' Keys: five closed keys for e'♭, f', g'♯, b'♭ and c'' on pillar mountings. State of preservation: Moderate condition. A crack runs along the lower section of the head joint. A shorter crack can be seen on the lower part of the lower joint. The rings, the keys and the mountings bear signs of oxidation. The lower end of the stopper is damaged as well as the cork covering the uppermost tenon. The cork pad on the rear of the B♭ key’s touch is largely missing and the pin which fastens the spring to it has scraped the underlying ivory. The cork pad is largely missing also in the E♭ key. Measurements: Overall l. (indicator excluded): 618mm; head joint l.: 222mm; upper joint l.: 164mm; lower joint l.: 128mm; foot joint l.: 92mm; sounding l.: 553mm; distance from stopper’s end to head joint’s rim: -; head joint upper/lower end ø:18.8/18mm; head joint inner/outer ø at level of the mouth-hole: c17/27.2mm; head joint max. outer ø: 27.7mm; lower end foot joint inner/outer ø: 15.2/21.4mm; mouth-hole ø (longit. x transv.): 11.7x9.2mm; fingerholes ø: 6.1/6.1/5.7/5.9/6.5/4.5mm; distance from fingerholes to mouth-hole (centre to centre): 224.3/260.1/295.9/359,2/395/3 26.3mm. Head-cap: outer ø: 25.8mm; stem ø: 18.1mm; stem h..: 14.7mm; cap h.: 12mm. Historical Documentation: De Lange 1967: 104, 416: “Possibly French.” References: See K096; De Lange 1967: 104, 416. 21. Transverse flute 5 joints, 6 keys Hornbostel-Sachs number: 421.121.12 D’Almaine & Co London, United Kingdom 1834-1867 Aerophones Centre 04 Inv. KG063 Stamped on upper joint above the fingerholes; on lower joint between 4th and 5th fingerholes; on foot joint above the bottom ivory tip, on the front: (crown) / D’ALMAINE & Co Description: Made of boxwood with ivory rings, and silver? keys with round flaps on block mountings. The tube has a conoidal bore and is built in five tapered joints, the second (barrel) being very short. The head joint accommodates the elliptical mouth-hole. The barrel has a “6” stamped on the front, thus pointing to the existence of at least five more joints. The wooden tenons are lapped with yellowed waxed threads. The ivory rings have narrow raised rims on either side, bordered by an ornamental black purfling. The closed keys have oval touches and rounded flaps. The open keys are of an early typology, consisting of an articulated lever made of two interlinked shanks: the touch shank pivoted by a pin inserted in a slot in the lower joint’s moulding, is inserted in the flap shank, which is pivoted on a saddle mounting below the ring. On the front of the head joint, at about 2-2.5 cm distance from the lower ivory ring’s rim, is an unclear stamp which appears to read: “ST / JUNIOR”, almost vanished and further illegible because of the crack running across the stamp. On the uppermost ivory ring is stamped “PATENT”. Size: concert flute in d' Keys: two open keys for c' and c'♯, four closed keys for e'♭, (cross) f ', g'♯, b'♭ on saddle mountings save for e''♭ on block mounting. 83 State of preservation: The head joint and the upper joint are stuck. A deep crack runs along the head joint, extending to the uppermost ivory ring. Another crack is visible on the upper joint. One of the pins in the B♭ key mounting is missing. The springs of the C♯ and F keys do not operate freely anymore, whereas the E♭ key’s spring became loose. The two pins on the foot joint’s ring, one passing through the two touch shanks of the open keys and the other through the E♭ key’s shank, are displaced: they have probably been pulled out for lubrication and could not fit inside anymore; at present only one end sticks out of the hole and it is folded back on itself, above the foot joint’s moulding. Measurements: Overall l. (indicator excluded): 650mm; head joint l. (ring included): 159mm; upper joint l.: 65mm; middle joint l.: 157mm; lower joint l.: 117mm; foot joint l.: 145mm; sounding l.: 594mm; distance from stopper’s end to head joint’s rim: 17.0mm; head joint upper/lower end ø: c 19/ 17mm; head joint inner/outer ø at level of the mouth-hole: c17/21.0mm; head joint max. outer ø: 30.0mm; lower end foot joint inner/outer ø: 9.5/22.0mm; mouth-hole ø (longit. x transv.): 11.0x11.5mm; fingerholes ø: 7.2/8.3/7.0/7.6/8.4/5.8mm; distance from fingerholes to mouth-hole (centre to centre): 219/251.8/287.4/347.6/380.3/ 408.4mm. Head-cap: outer ø: 29.3mm; stem ø: -; stem h. (=screw h.): 34.2mm; cap h. (+indicator): 7.5+7.5mm. Historical Documentation: Nixon, Inventory, 2017: “Suspect it's by Potter; he and D'Almaine (1836-1866) in partnership. […] (p.c. Jeremy Montagu 2008)/” Further comments: The fact that the barrel bears a stamped “6” on its surface suggests that the concerned joint was meant to be interchangeable with five more; nevertheless, this is quite unusual as the interchangeable joints for transverse flutes were usually the upper joints. D’Almaine & Co. was a firm established by Thomas D’Almaine in 1834 as successor to Goulding & D’Almaine. At his retirement in 1847 he was succeeded by his nephew Thomas Mackinley, who died in 1866. J. Montagu suggested that the flute might have been made by Potter, who was in partnership with Goulding and D’Almaine from 1813 to 1824 (p.c. to Nixon 2008, cit. Nixon 2017). References: See K096; Baines 1991:292-4; De Lange 1967: 104, 415; Waterhouse 1993: 80, 142, 308-9. 22. Transverse flute 4 joints, 8 keys Hornbostel-Sachs number: 421.121.12 Metzler/Nicholson London, United Kingdom First half of 19th century Aerophones Centre 04 Inv. KG099 Stamped On head joint, below the embouchure; on upper joint below the silver section; on the front: NICHOLSON / LONDON On lower joint between the 5th and 6th fingerholes: METZLER / LONDON Description: Wooden flute built in four joints with silver rings. The head and upper joints are fitted together in a silver cylindrical band. The eight silver keys have round flaps and oval touches, pivoted in block and saddle mountings, the four long keys being accommodated in a slot in a second block when at rest. The head joint has the rounded embouchure and is closed by a head-cap with a silver ring between the cap and the joint. The head-cap has an ornamental carved knob, consisting of an oblong pillar on a larger fluted knob, encircled by concentric flutings on the top surface of the cap. The cork stopper has a threaded bore matching with the screw attached to the stem of the head-cap. The stem itself is not threaded and was kept in position by rubber thickenings which are currently rotten. The bottom two long keys on the foot joint overlap and are of the articulated lever typology described for KG063. The articulated lever keys, both open keys, cover the holes by leaning against a metal square plate inserted in the joint’s wood around the holes and fastened by four small flat head slotted screws. Flaps and pads are made of rubber. Size: concert flute in d' 84 Keys: two open keys for c' and c'♯, six closed keys for e'♭, (cross) f ', long f ', g '♯, b '♭, c'' on saddle mountings. State of preservation: The upper joint is stuck in the head joint. A deep crack runs along the head joint; a shorter crack is on the upper joint. The shank carrying the flap of the open C key is missing. Yellowish and greenish signs can be seen on the silver parts. The downmost tenon is threaded but unlapped. Measurements: Overall l.: 690mm; head+upper joints l.: 391mm; lower joint l.: 126mm; foot joint l.: 141mm; sounding l.: 600mm; distance from stopper’s end to head joint’s rim: 25mm; head joint upper/lower end ø: c 18.6/-mm; head joint inner/outer ø at level of the mouth-hole: c16/27.5mm; head joint max. outer ø: 18.4mm; lower end foot joint inner/outer ø: 10.7/20.9mm; mouth-hole ø: 11.7mm; fingerholes ø: 7.4/8.9/7.2/7.8/9.3/ 5.4mm; distance from fingerholes to mouth-hole (centre to centre): 217.8/254.3/287.2/ 349.3/382.1/416.7mm. Head-cap: outer ø: 27.6mm; stem ø: 17.9mm; stem h.: 19.4mm; cap h.: 31.3mm. Further comments: The English model of the eightkeyed flute is characterized by the extra-large holes for fingers II and V, which strengthen the sound on many notes. Nicholson had large fingers and made the fingerholes of his flute much larger than usual, which led to a brilliance of tone and a volume that impressed Theobald Boehm during a concert tour in 1831. The latter returned to Germany to improve his own flute, resulting in the Boehm system.242 The first firm which produced and sold the socalled “Nicholson’s Flute Manufactory” was Clementi & Co.243 This model is the orchestral equivalent of the six-keyed band flutes, the two extra keys being either for the low C♯ and C or for the upper C and long F. References: See K096; Baines 1991:70, 317; De Lange 1967: 105, 420; Waterhouse 1993: 261-62, 281. 23. Transverse flute with case and cleaning rod 3 joints, 8 keys Hornbostel-Sachs number: 421.121.12 Hawkes and son London, United Kingdom 1889-1895 Not in exhibition Inv. KG198 Embossed On head joint, midway between the embouchure and the silver ring below; on foot joint, above the bottom ring, on front: HAWKES&SON / LONDON / 8358 Between the second and third silver rings: 8358 On upper joint, top, front: EXCELSIOR / SONOROUS / CLASS / HAWKES&SON / MAKERS / LONDON / 8358 P. Bate, L. Böhm, “Boehm, Theobald”, 2013, in Oxford Music Online. 242 Description: Well-finished ebonite flute built in three joints, with conoidal bore and metal rings and eight keys on pillar mountings. The silver rings, of simple design, have a raised ring in the middle. The main joint accommodates the six fingerholes, the holes for fingers II and V being extra-large, as in the English model of the eight-keyed flute. 244 The two tenons, branching from the main joint, have a cork inlaid band, which avoids the risk of the waxed threads’ displacement and wear. The head joint’s bore is closed by a fixed cork stopper and has a rounded top end, with a silver ring between it and the rest of the joint. The tapering foot joint has an analogous finishing touch, the bore being unclosed. The keywork arrangement is similar to that of KG099, the open keys holes being aligned. The typology of the keys and their mountings on the main joint have been described for KG132. The keys on the foot joint have pillar mountings with needle spring in which the touch branches from one end of the long pillar-mounted barrel and the flap from the other end; the touch and the flap are placed on the same side of the axle in case of the open keys and on opposite sides in the closed key.245 The C open key’s touch consists of a pillar longitudinally pivoted by an axle in a way that when it is operated by the finger, it rolls on the other open key’s touch, so that both holes are closed at the same time. The long F key’s 243 Waterhouse 1993: 281. Cf. KG099. 245 Baines 1996: 78. 244 85 touch leans against the support of the G♯ key, a rubber? pad preventing them from direct contact. Such a sort of pad is also attached to the rear of the other long key, whereas the contact between the joints and the spring’s pins is avoided by means of a small rubber circle fixed to the joint’s surface. The flaps have a cup shape for holding pads stuffed with leather. The joints are detachable for storage in a wooden case, which has rectangular shape, copper cover, violet velvet lining and two drawbolt closure latches. A rectangular tag in the case reads: HAWKES & SON / DENMAN STREET, PICCADILLY CIRCUS / LONDON. W. REGENT 7373 / ALSO AT GLASGOW & ALDERSHOT. The case has a slot for a small round box, which bears the logo: triangle with a bell in the centre, a tuning fork on top, stamped: BUESCHER / TRADE MARK / TRUE TONE / REGISTERED / ELKHART IND. The cleaning rod consists of a wooden stick with teasel head. Size: concert flute in d' Keys: two open for c', c'♯ and six closed for e'♭, f ', long f ', g'♯, b'♭, c'' on pillar mountings. State of preservation: Excellent condition. There is trace of faint signs of oxidation on the junction points between the silver rings and the wood and on the keys. There is a small scratch on the left side of the foot joint. Measurements: Overall l.: 670mm; head joint l.: 241mm; main joint l.: 276mm; foot joint l.: 134mm; sounding l.: 580mm; distance from stopper’s end to head joint’s rim: -; head joint upper/lower end ø: /18.8mm; head joint inner/outer ø at level of the mouth-hole: c 18/27.5mm; head joint max. outer ø: 27.7mm; lower end foot joint inner/outer ø (to the ring): 12.4/21.7mm; mouth-hole ø (longit. x transv.): 12.8x 10.9mm; fingerholes ø: 7.1/ 11.5/10.0/8.4/10.0/8.4mm; distance from fingerholes to mouth-hole (centre to centre): 223.8/229.9/264.7/323.2/355.7/ 391.7mm. Head-cap: outer ø: 27.7mm; h. (ring included): 19mm. Case: l.: 357mm; w.: 136mm; h.: 52mm. Cleaning rod: l.: 248mm; stick min.-max. ø: 3.0/5.5 mm. Small box: ø: 23.8mm; h.: 8.7mm. Further comments: The firm, established in 1860 as Hawkes & Co., had been registered as Hawkes & Son from 1889 to 1995. There are two catalogues edited by H&S which could help with a more precise dating: Hawkes & Son, Illustrated Price List of the Hawkes Military Band Instruments, c1908. Hawkes & Son, Military band instruments manufactured by Hawkes & Son, London: Hawkes & Son, 1927. References: See K096; Waterhouse 1993: 165. 24. Transverse flute with case 4 joints, 9 keys Hornbostel-Sachs number: 421.121.12 Monzani & Co London, United Kingdom 1825-1829 Aerophones Centre 04 Inv. KG065 Stamped On upper joint, front: (crown) / MONZANI & CO On the ring between upper and lower joint, on the larger band: H/M On lower joint, front: (crown) / MONZANI & CO / 28. REGENT STT / PICCADILLY / LONDON / 2573 / PATENT / On the ring between upper and foot joint: [illegible] .K TM HE On foot joint, front: (crown) / MONZANI & CO / (crown) / PATENT Description: Well-finished instrument in four joints, with silver rings and nine keys, the joints being detachable for storage in a chamois lined leather case. Rings consisting of fluted rings, a central band being larger than the others, with raised rims on either side. The head joint has ornamental flutings with an elliptical smoothed surface around the embouchure and has a metal tenon fitting in the upper joint’s metal mortise. The upper joint’s tenon is of wood, cork lapped and wrapped with black wool? thread, whereas the lower joint’s tenon is wrapped with yellowed thread. All the keys, with leather pads, are of silver and on block and saddle mountings. The touches of the open 86 keys operate in an analogous way to those of KG198. The head-cap is of the same wood of the joints and has a stem with a threaded bore matching with an ivory threaded wrap applied around a metal rod, both being fastened to the cork stopper. The case has a rectangular shape with rounded short sides; it is made of wood, the inside lined with chamois and the outside covered with black paper, with a flower engraved on the lid’s surface, not perfectly centred. The case has a slot for a little box (as in that of KG192). Size: concert flute in d' Keys: two open for c', c'♯ and seven closed for e'♭, f ', long f ', g'♯, double flap b'♭, long c'', long e'', on block and saddle mountings. State of preservation: A long crack can be seen along a flute of the head joint. A long crack and two smaller ones are on the upper joint. Two small cracks are in proximity to the lower joint’s upper ring. The junctions are in good condition. Signs of oxidation are scattered around and on the keys. The pad of the open C key is missing. Various pins in the block mountings have been extracted in whole or in part and now are partly out of the hole. De Lange (1967: 105, 418) describes a cleaning rod with a wool teasel head which is now lost; nevertheless, the Africana Museum Accession Register (1981: KG65) does not refer to any cleaning rod, nor does it mention any case. Measurements: Overall l.: 707mm; head joint l.: 203mm; main joint l.: 220mm; foot joint l.: 275mm; sounding l.: 628mm; distance from stopper’s end to head joint’s rim: 21.0mm; head joint upper/lower end ø: 18.6/18.9mm; head joint inner/outer ø at level of the mouth-hole: 22.6/27.2mm; head joint max. outer ø: 28.8mm; lower end foot joint inner/outer ø: 10.1/21.7mm; mouth-hole ø (longit. x transv.): 11.8x9.8mm; fingerholes ø: 6.5/6.5/6.2/7.1/ 7.1/5.1mm; distance from fingerholes to mouth-hole (centre to centre): 220.2/256.1/292.3/ 352.7/389.0/425.0mm. Head-cap: outer ø: 26.9mm; stem ø: 17.9mm; stem h.: 18.7mm; cap h.: 9.0mm. Case: l.: 330mm; w.: 116mm; h.: 54mm. References: See K096; De Lange 1967: 105, 418; Waterhouse 1993: 270-1. Historical Documentation: Nixon, Inventory, 2017: “Presented by Miss Mary Glass of Rhodesia (Kirby Additional Notes, Africana Museum)/” Description: Covered action flute with cylindrical bore, built in three joints with silver tips and silver keys on pillar-and-needle mountings. The tenons are cork lapped and metal rimmed. The head is plugged, and the elliptical mouth-hole is set in a wide band of silver, 37.2mm from the plug, which is delimited by a silver ring. The stopper is of metal and the head-cap is not removable. There are seventeen plates, fourteen in the middle section and three in the foot joint. The plates branch from a long pillar passing alongside them and individual levers enable cross fingering. The flute comes with a wooden tapering cleaning rod with eyelike top (KG066b). Further comments: Tebaldo Monzani, born in Verona, became music publisher and musical instruments seller in 1803, using the label Monzani & Co. in the years 1805-08. During the years 1822-33 the firm had its headquarters in Regent St Piccadilly, London. Byrne (cit. Waterhouse 1993: 271) recorded the serial numbers ranging from 102 to 3200, so that it is possible to date KG065 at some time between 1825 and 1829. This instrument was given to Kirby by Miss Mary Glass, Rhodesia. 25. Transverse flute with cleaning rod 3 joints, 12 keys Hornbostel-Sachs number: 421.121.12 Rudall Carte & Co London, United Kingdom 1903-1904 Aerophones Centre 04 Inv. KG066a-b Inscribed on head joint, above the moulding; on foot joint above the rim: (crown) / RUDALL / CARTE & CO / LONDON on middle joint, above the fingerholes: RUDALL / CARTE & CO / 23 BEERNERS STREET / OXFORD STREET / LONDON / 3677 Size: concert flute in c' (Low Pitch a'=420Hz). 87 Keys: two open for c', c'♯ and closed keys for e'♭, two small trill keys, f', g'♯, b', b'♭, three vented keys, on pillar-and needle mountings. State of preservation: The instrument is in good condition, displaying only oxidation traces on the band. The levers on the foot joint are loose and the cleaning rod is bent. Measurements: Overall l.: 658mm; head joint l. (cap excluded, ring included): 224mm; body joint l.: 295mm; foot joint l.: 128mm. sounding l.: 591mm; distance from stopper’s end to head joint’s rim: -; head joint upper/lower end ø: /19.5mm; head joint inner/outer ø at level of the mouth-hole: c16/26.4mm; head joint max. outer ø.: 29.5mm; mouth-hole ø (longit. x transv.): 12.3x10.6 mm; fingerholes ø.: -; distance from fingerholes to mouth-hole (centre to centre): -. Head-cap: outer ø: 25.0mm; stem ø: -; stem h.: -; cap h.: 11.4mm. Cleaning rod: l.: 33.5; stick max.-min. ø: 9.4/6.7 mm; tip w.: 8.3mm; tip h.: 3.4mm. Historical Documentation: In his autobiography Kirby (1967: 24, cited Capitolo II, p.25) remembers the time when his father bought him a “modern cylinder flute on the Boehm system, […] a regular professional model manufactured by the famous firm of Rudall, Carte & Co. in London…” This happened in 1904. Nixon, Inventory, 2017: […] Number 3677. These have been catalogued. […] Kirby played this instrument from 1904.” Further comments: Rudall Carte & Co. has been a firm owned by George Rudall and his pupil Richard Carte as successor to Rudall Rose Carte & Co from 1872 to 1950. In 1831 Rudall met Boehm in London and introduced him to Nicholson. Afterwards he granted by Boehm the British manufacturing rights for both of his flute systems. 246 On account of the dated serial numbers provided by Waterhouse (1993: 339), and to the fact that John Kirby bought it for his son in 1904, KG066 must date from 190304. The keywork is in compliance with the “old System” flute devised by Carte for those players who did not feel comfortable with the Boehm system flutes, in particular with the open G♯ key; Rudall and Carte’s system applied simple-system fingerings to Boehm cylindrical design, making the G♯ lever closed to accommodate players on the old flute. 247 References: See K096; Baines 1991: 62-71; Kirby 1967: 24; De Lange 1967: 105-6, 422; Waterhouse 1993: 58, 339. Rudall Carte & Co 1931: 7. Related objects: Inv. 2555 in University of Edinburgh. 26. Galoubet Hornbostel-Sachs number: 421.221.12 Unknown France248 246 Waterhouse 1993: 339. 19th century? Aerophones Left 02 Inv. KG076 No mark Description: Pipe made of one piece of boxwood? with conical bore tapering downwards, the wood being cylindrically (slightly tapering) shaped outside, the beak with block. At 21.7 mm distance from the top end of the beak is carved the rectangular window. The lower part of the tube accommodates the two fingerholes in the front and one thumbhole in the rear, all the holes being well-aligned and regularly spaced-out. Below the fingerholes, the wood has been hand-carved to obtain two hollows that help the grip, the profile of the narrow end resulting slightly flared. Pitch: c'' State of preservation: The block is damaged; there are cracks on the mouthpiece, near the hole. Measurements: Overall l.: 324mm; beak l.: 15.7 mm; beak w.: 13.4 (upper rim); 16.6 (base); windway l.: 21.9mm; sounding l.: 302mm; outer ø: 16.5mm; inner/outer ø at lower end: 8.7/14.7mm; window (w. x l.): 6.7x5.4mm; labium l. (left/centre/right): 9.7/12.8/9.7mm; thumbhole ø (longit.xtransv.): 7.0x6.2mm; fingerholes ø (longit.xtransv.): 6.8x7.3/7.4x6.2mm; distance Robert Bigio, “Rudall, Carte & Company”, in Grove Music Online, 2001. 247 88 from centre of fingerholes to the block-line: 197/226/254mm. Historical Documentation: De Lange 1967: 100, 399: “Purchased by prof. Kirby in 1948” References: De Lange 1967: 100, 399. 27. Recorder 3 joints Hornbostel-Sachs number: 421.221.12 Arnold Dolmetsch Haslemere (UK) 1924 (or earlier) Aerophones Centre 04 KG070 Inscribed on the head joint, below the window; on the body above the 1st fingerhole; on the foot joint, below the mounding, front: ARNOLD / DOLMETSCH / 66 Description: Wooden recorder. The outside is carved to give a bulb shape to the top and bottom joint’s mouldings, and the bottom end flares out. The six fingerholes are well-aligned along the front face of the middle joint. Size: tenor in c' (Low Pitch a'= 415Hz) State of preservation: Judging by the wear of the fingerholes and the discolour of the wood surrounding the fingerholes, the beak opening, and the spot where the right thumb supports the instrument, the speci- 248 De Lange 1967: 100, 399. men has been played for a long time. Measurements: Overall length: 620mm; head joint l.: 240mm; body l.: 247mm; foot joint l.: 133mm; total sounding l.: 551mm; head joint sounding l.: c135mm; windway l.: 69.0mm; window w.: 14.3mm; window h. (left/centre/right): 5.7/6.8/5.7mm; labium l. (left/centre/right): 25.0/31.5/24.7mm; labium w.: 18.3mm; inner ø at the blockline: c23mm; outer ø at the block-line: 38.4mm; body max.min. ø: 33.8-27.8mm; foot joint max.-min. ø: 49.2-21.4mm; bell hole ø: 15.0mm; outer ø at bottom: 49.2mm; fingerholes ø: 8.0/7.0/7.5/7.2/6.5/7.1/5.8/6.5m m; distance from centre of fingerholes to the block-line: 181.7/208.1/242.3/277.7/320.7/ 349.5/383.8mm; distance from 7th fingerhole (centre) to bell hole: 106.8mm. Historical Documentation: Kirby 1967: 187: “For this production [of Beaumont and Fletcher’s “The Knight of the Burning Pestle” (1925)] I again arranged contemporary music, and myself performed upon a tenor recorder which had been specially made for me by the celebrated Arnold Dolmetsch. This was, I believe, the first occasion on which a recorder was used in South Africa…” Further comments: Arnold Dolmetsch is mainly known for being a pioneer in the revival of performances of early music, in particular through the reconstruction and development of obsolete instruments (viols, keyboard instruments and recorders), of which the ultimate achievement is represented by the Haslemere Festival, held in 1925 for the first time. Haslemere played such prominent role in the re-construction of early music traditions from that time until World War II. The trigger event of the revival of the recorder can be identified with Dolmetsch’ loss of a Bressan recorder acquired in 1905, which led him in 1919 to perfect the first modern recorder built in compliance with Baroque specifications. In 1920 he built a workshop with the financial support of some friends and in 1926 he built an entire consort of recorders. KG070 is built at Low Pitch (a'= 415Hz) and was used by Kirby in 1925 during a performance of “The Knight of the Burning Pestle”, a play in five acts by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher (1907); this was possibly the first time ever that such sort of instrument was played (or seen) in South Africa. References: Baines 1968b: 82-5; M. Campbell, “Dolmetsch Family”, 2001, in Oxford Music Online; Kirby 1967: 187; De Lange 1067: 99, 394; Meucci 2017; Waterhouse 1993: 93. 28. Recorder 3 joints Hornbostel-Sachs number: 421.221.12 Peter Harlan Markneukirchen, Germany 1926-1966 89 Aerophones Centre 04 KG069 – in set of four together with KG067- KG071 – KG072 Inscribed on the head joint’s moulding, rear: PETER HARLAN / MARKNEUKIRCHEN Description: Wooden recorder made in three joints fitted together by tenon and mortise with brass rings. The head and foot joints are turned with mouldings, having a simpler and more squared design that those of KG070. The tenons are lapped with claret waxed thread. The foot joint has a flared shape towards the bottom, the bore tapering downwards. Size: descant in a' (a'=435Hz) State of preservation: Good condition. The rings are slightly oxidised. Measurements: Overall l.: 396mm; head joint l.: 132mm; body l.: 168mm; foot joint l.: 96mm; total sounding l.: 349.7mm; head joint sounding l.: 64mm; windway l.: 46.3mm; window w.: 11mm; window h. (left/centre/right): 6.8/6.2/6.8mm; labium l. (left/centre/right): 13.8/17.2/13.8mm; labium w.: 12.2mm; inner ø at the blockline: c21mm; outer ø at the block-line: 30.8mm; body max.min. ø: 26.6/22.7mm; foot joint max.-min. ø: 45.0-22.1mm; bell hole ø: 14mm; outer ø at bottom: 45.0mm; fingerholes ø: 5.8/5.4/6.0/6.2/6.3/5.0/6.2/5.3 mm; distance from centre of fingerholes to the block-line: 101.9/112.7/136.4/161.7/189.5/ 218.6/238.6/270.3mm. Historical Documentation: De Lange 1967: 99-100, 395: “Made for prof. Kirby’s specifications. A set for ensemble playing.” Nixon, Inventory, 2017: “Recorders. Set of 4. Blockflöten. German. Made to order for Professor Kirby by Peter Harlan of Markneukirchen, Germany in 1928. In A.D.A.D. (Kirby Additional Notes, Africana Museum)/ Set completed by KG067, KG069, and KG071.” Further comments: Peter Harlan visited Dolmetsch in 1915 in Haselmere and started to produce recorders the following year with the maker K. Jacob, thus being a pioneer of reproduction of ancient musical instruments making in Germany. Nevertheless, his recorders were not based on authentic historical patterns.249 References: De Lange 1967: 99-100, 395; Waterhouse 1993: 161; E. Weller, “Markneukirchen”, 2015, in Oxford Music Online. 29. Recorder 3 joints Hornbostel-Sachs number: 421.221.12 Peter Harlan Markneukirchen, Germany 1926-1966 Aerophones Centre 04 KG071 Inscribed on the head joint’s moulding, rear: PETER HARLAN / MARKNEUKIRCHEN Description: Similar to KG069, the 6th fingerhole out of alignment and the labium ramp asymmetrically carved. Size: tenor in d' (a'=435Hz) State of preservation: Excellent condition. Measurements: Overall l.: 569mm; head joint l.: 202mm; body l.: 227mm; foot joint l.: 140mm; total sounding l.: 484.6mm; head joint sounding l.: 117.4mm; windway l.: 84.6mm; window w.: 13.2mm; window h. (left/ centre/right): 6.7/7.2/6.6mm; labium l. (left/centre/right): 16.5/21.0/17.5mm; labium w.: 14.5mm; inner ø at the blockline: c27mm; outer ø at the block-line: 37.7mm; body max.min. ø: 33.3-31.1mm; foot joint max.-min. ø: 53.6-28.6mm; bell hole ø: 20.7mm; outer ø at bottom: 53.6mm; fingerholes ø: 7.7/7.8/7.8/7.3/8.3/6.6/7.5/6.8m m; distance from centre of fingerholes to the block-line: 167.7/180.4/211.6/244.0/291.0/ 334.4/362.4mm; distance from lowest fingerhole (centre) to bottom end: 115.1mm. Historical Documentation: See KG069. Further comments: See KG069. References: See KG069. 249 Waterhouse 1993: 161. 90 30. Recorder 3 joints, 1 key Hornbostel-Sachs number: 421.221.12 Peter Harlan Markneukirchen, Germany 1926-1966 Aerophones Display KG072 No mark Description: Wooden recorder built in three joints, with brass rings, 7+1 fingerholes and one key on block mounting. Due to its size, the instrument does not have a beak mouthpiece, the head being flat above the labium and the embouchure consisting of two holes bored side by side on the top rear of the head joint, facing the player. The 3rd and 4th fingerholes are not aligned, in order to facilitate the fingering. The foot joint accommodates the open key, the two pins of the mount protruding from the block on one side. The key’s flap is squared and has a leather white pad. Size: tenor in a (a'=435Hz) Keys: one open key on block mounting for the 7th fingerhole. State of preservation: Good condition. There are signs of oxidation near the rings’ junction points and the key. Measurements: Overall l.: 757mm; head joint l.: 264mm; body l.: 290mm; foot joint l.: 203mm; total sounding l.: 684mm; head joint sounding l.: 191mm; window w.: 18.8mm; window h. (left/ centre/right): 6.8/9.0/7.5mm; labium l.: (left/centre/right): 22.0/26.8/22.0mm; labium w.: 20.0mm; inner ø at the blockline: c37mm; outer ø at the block-line: 48mm; body max.min. ø: 43.3-39.6mm; foot joint max.-min. ø: 36.8-74.5mm; bell hole ø: 26.5mm; outer ø at bottom: 74.6mm; mounting l.: 47.7mm; mounting ø: 52.3mm; fingerholes ø: 7.8/8.6/8.5/7.4/ 9.7/7.0/8.2mm; distance from centre of fingerholes to the block-line: 207.1/228.7/296.2/ 306.5/411.7/460.8/494.9mm. Historical Documentation: See KG069. Further comments: See KG069. This instrument, unlike the other specimens of the set, does not bear any mark. References: See KG069. 31. Recorder 3 joints, 1 key Hornbostel-Sachs number: 421.221.12 Peter Harlan Markneukirchen, Germany 1926-1966 Aerophones Display KG067 Inscribed on the block mounting, front: PETER HARLAN / MARKNEUKIRCHEN Description: Similar to KG072 but much larger. The head has a brass crook bent into a curved ‘S’, issuing from the top and carrying a black mouthpiece. The open key, on block mounting, is an articulated lever made of two interlinked shanks and of the same typology described for KG063, the flap being squared and covered with a leather pad. 32. Recorder 2 joints Hornbostel-Sachs number: 421.221.12 Size: great bass in d (a'=435Hz) Schott & Co. Ltd. London, United Kingdom 1939-1950 Keys: one open key on block mounting for the 7th fingerhole. Aerophones Centre 04 KG137 State of preservation: Good condition. The crook fits loosely in its housing. Embossed on the rear at level of the window, lengthwise: SCHOTTS C DESCANT / MADE IN ENGLAND / REGD DESIGN Measurements: Overall l. (crook excluded): 1149mm; head joint l.: 390mm; body l.: 466mm; foot joint l.: 293mm; total sounding l.: 1053mm; head joint sounding l.: 294mm; crook l. (mouthpiece included): 406mm; crook ø: 10.0mm; window w.: 21.0mm; window h. (left/centre/right): 8.1/11.3/9.2mm; labium l. (left/centre/right): 24.3/29.2/24.3mm; labium w.: 22.1mm; inner ø at the blockline: c37mm; outer ø at the block-line: 57.8mm; body max.min. ø: 49.5-46.9mm; foot joint max.-min. ø: 90.3-43.1mm; bell hole ø: 29.2mm; outer ø at bottom: 90.3mm; fingerholes ø: 9.6/9.3/9.3/7.3/11.2/7.3/7.9mm; distance from the centre of fingerholes to the block-line: 338.1/385.1/429.0/470.1/263.5/ 263.4/661.2mm; distance from stopper to the top: 39.5mm. Historical Documentation: See KG069. Further comments: See KG069. References: See KG069. Baines 1968b: 83. 91 Description: Modern and inexpensive plastic recorder built out of two jointed conical halves, the junction being evident at the sides of the beak, of the moulding and of the foot. The specimen is constituted by two joints fitted together by tenon and mortise, the head and the body, the latter joint’s tenon lapped with yellowed waxed thread. The main body accommodates 7+1 fingerholes, the 6th split into two smaller twin holes bored on a cylindrical rise of the tube. The 7th fingerhole is also split into twin holes, set in the left side of the foot, for the right little finger. The labium ramp is deeper than that of the other recorders of the collection. Below the beak, on the front, is embossed a small “3”. Size: descant in c'' State of preservation: Probably due to a fall or a bump, the foot has a crack along the junctions of the two cylindrical halves, at present repaired with glue. Measurements: Overall l.: 321mm; head joint l. (beak included): 114mm; body l.: 207mm; total sounding l.: 283mm; head joint sounding l.: c75.2mm; windway l.: 38.0mm; window w.: 9.0mm; window h. (left/centre/right): 5.4/5.6/5.4mm; labium l. (left/centre/right): 19.5/22.2/19.5mm; labium w.: 8.6mm; inner ø at the blockline: c14mm; outer ø at the block-line: 23.7mm; body max.min. ø: 18.7-16.0mm; bell hole ø: 7.9mm; outer ø at bottom: 28.6mm; fingerholes ø: 5.2/4.3/ 5.1/5.3/4.2/5.0/3.0+3.0/3.0+2.0 mm; distance from centre of fingerholes to the block-line: 97/99.1/120.0/141.3/164.6/ 187.7/207.6mm; distance from 7th fingerhole (centre) to bottom end: 46.1+ 46.8mm. Historical Documentation: Nixon, Inventory, 2017: “A shop plastic descant. Invented by Edgar Hunt (Jeremy Montagu p.c. 2008).” Further comments: Schott & Co. Ltd. was opened as branch of B. Schott fils in 1835. From 1939 produced recorders in plastic, “bakelite”. References: Baines 1968b: 82-5; De Lange 1967: 100, 398; Waterhouse 1993: 362. 33. Picco pipe Hornbostel-Sachs number: 421.221.12 Unknown London, United Kingdom Late 19th century? Aerophones Centre 04 KG075 Inscribed at midway between the window and the 1st fingerhole, front: IMPROVED / LONDON Description: Small duct flute shaped out of wood, with a cylindrical bore which widely flares at the lower end and a beak mouthpiece, which has a raised rim at the top. Probably hand-made as the windway and labium are slightly asymmetric and the beak opening is not accurately central, being located more to the right (player’s perspective) and being larger at its left side. Two fingerholes in front are marked A 1 and G 2, and one thumbhole in the back, midway and above the other two, is marked D 0. The bottom end is rimmed with metal, having three incised rings. Pitch: c'' (with the end closed) State of preservation: Excellent condition. Measurements: Overall l.: 93mm; total sounding l.: c59mm; windway l.: 33.9mm; window w.: 8.3mm; window h. (left/centre/right): 2.2/4.0/2.5mm; labium l. (left/centre/right): 10.0/14.3/11.0mm; labium w.: 10.6mm; inner ø at the blockline: c13mm; outer ø at the block-line: 20.5mm; bell hole ø: 14.4mm; outer ø at bottom: 25.0mm; fingerholes ø: 5.2/5.8/ 5.8mm; distance from centre of fingerholes to the block-line: 26.4/31.7/43.9mm. Further comments: Considered to be the smallest size of the recorder, the picco pipe was brought to light by Giuseppe Picchi, a blind player 92 who used to perform on a very short three-holed pipe that could be bought from street markets, and who achieved great success in London in the 1950s. Picchi was able to play a range of three octaves on this instrument. The lowest note, c″, can be obtained by closing the flute’s end with the palm of one hand, while covering the other holes with the other hand’s fingers; opening the holes, the flute gives the notes g″ to b″, and partially uncovering the end produces all the semitones of this octave. With the end uncovered, the scale c″'-b″' can be played in harmonics, continuing upwards in stopped harmonics. After Picchi’s success many London flute makers started to produce and sell an instrument similar to his, made of hardwood. References: Guizzi 2008; W. H. Stone, A. C. Baines, W. Waterhouse, “Picco Pipe”, 2001, in Oxford Music Online. 34. Penny whistle Hornbostel-Sachs number: 421.221.12 Robert Clarke England? 19th-20th century Aerophones Left 02 KG178 Embossed on the front, midway between the window and the 1st fingerhole: R.CLARKE / D Description: Duct pipe made of tin plate folded on itself and soldered to form a tube, which tapers downwards. Six fingerholes are drilled in the front, being well- aligned and evenly spaced-out. A wooden block is inserted in the beak end and fixed probably with two pins, which are now missing or not visible, the holes for their passage well-visible on the sides of the beak. The beak has been hammered into a quadrangular shape, so that the tube is not completely cylindrical. Between the window and the fingerholes is the maker’s name in relief. This instrument appears to be a plain example: unlike the specimen from the same maker which will be illustrated the next, KG178 does not have a rich ornateness, having only the name of the maker and the nominal pitch embossed on the front, but not clearly visible. Historical Documentation: Nixon, Inventory, 2017: “collected by Willie Kemp.” Pitch: d'' 35. Penny whistle Hornbostel-Sachs number: 421.221.12 State of preservation: Signs of rust can be seen near to the 4th and 5th fingerholes. During the soldering process, the metal in the rear became lighter and trickled. Measurements: Overall l.: 285mm; total sounding l.: 265mm; windway l.: 20.3mm; window w.: 12.1mm; window l.: 5.5mm; inner dimensions at the block-line (h.xw.): 10.0xc15mm; outer dimensions at the block-line (h.xw.): 11.5x15.3mm; body max.-min. ø: 15.5-8.6mm; bell hole ø: 7.7mm; outer ø at bottom: 9.3mm; fingerholes ø: 5.3/6.2/ 5.7/5.6/6.6/5.1mm; distance from centre of fingerholes to the block-line: 121.1/140.7/181.2/ 203.1/222.3/245.0mm. Further comments: The term “pennywhistle” was probably coined by Robert Clarke, who invented a particular brand of sixhole whistle made from tin plate in the 1840s (they are still being made by his descendants). This extremely cheap type of penny whistle is much used in folk music and is especially common in Ireland.250 References: N. Dannatt, “Tin whistle”, 2001, in Oxford Music Online; De Lange 1967: 101, 404. Robert Clarke England? 19th-20th century Aerophones Left 02 KG176 Stamped on the front, between the window and the 1st fingerhole: CLARKE Description: Similar to KG178 in construction, the material being heavier and thicker. At either side of the beak the metal is bored three times. The instrument is black painted with gilt decorations: the window is bordered with gilt lines, the horizontal ones continuing on the rear. A gilt ellipse with an edging geometric motif, bears the maker’s name in N. Dannatt, “Penny whistle” in The Oxford Companion to Music, 2001. 250 93 black; two little “c” are at the sides and could be referred either to the maker’s initial or – more probably – to the instrument’s pitch. Two double gilt lines are painted once above the fingerholes and twice below them, a gilt rhombus being painted around each fingerhole. Pitch: c'' State of preservation: Good condition, especially by virtue of the material’s fragility. There are a few dents, the most evident being around the window. Signs of red paint are visible in proximity to the fingerholes. Measurements: Overall l.: 321mm; total sounding l.: 300mm; windway l.: 21.3mm; window w.: 12.2mm; window l. (left/centre/right): 5.7/6.0/5.8mm; inner dimensions at the block-line (h.xw.): c13.3x12.6mm; outer dimensions at the block-line (h.xw.): 17.1x15.4mm; body max.-min. ø: 17.4-11.0mm; bell hole ø: 8.7-9.9mm; outer ø at bottom: 11.0mm; fingerholes ø: 6.7/6.9/ 6.8/5.4/7.3/5.4mm; distance from centre of fingerholes to the block-line: 140.5/162.9/187.5/ 213.3/232.3/256.4mm. Further comments: See KG178 References: See KG178; De Lange 1967: 101, 403. 36. Penny whistle Hornbostel-Sachs number: 421.221.12 Unknown (“H.R.”) Germany About 1920251 Aerophones Left 02 KG177 Stamped on the front of the tube with trademark (cf. description) Description: Similar to KG178 in construction, the soldering being less protruding. Black painted with gilt decorations: geometric motif above and around the window, with an arrow pointed downwards below the window. A double line with twist in between delimits on either side the most adorned section: on a gilt stripe is written upside down, in black: “MADE IN GERMANY”. Beneath, is a lyre, upside down, bearing the writing “MY PRIDE” between the two external strings of the painted instrument. A “C” indicates the whistle’s nominal pitch, below which is a gilt ellipse bearing the trade mark: an arm with fist pointing upwards, coming out of stones, the hand gripping a brick, separates the writing “TRADE MARK” and the initials “H” “R” below. The fingerholes are rimmed with gilt paint and the double line with twist repeats twice below the downmost hole. Pitch: c'' State of preservation: Relatively good condition. A dent deformed the window edges and the gilt rims of the 251 fingerholes are a bit decoloured, especially the one of the 5th. Measurements: Overall l.: 320mm; total sounding l.: 298.6mm; windway l.: 21.4mm; window w.: 12.2mm; window l. (left/centre/right): 5.5/4.7/5.6mm; labium w.: -; inner dimensions at the blockline (h.xw.): c12.0x12.4mm; outer dimensions at the blockline (h.xw.): 14.5x13.0mm; body max.-min. ø: 16.0-9.7mm; bell hole ø: 8.7mm; outer ø at bottom: 9.7mm; fingerholes ø: 6.0/5.8/5.9/4.9/7.1/5.0mm; distance from centre of fingerholes to the block-line: 141.9/167.6/ 192.8/218.3/237.2/261.6mm. Historical Documentation: De Lange 1967: 101, 403: “Made in Germany. About 1920. / Given to Prof. P.R. Kirby in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1960. Further comments: See KG178. References: See KG178; De Lange 1967: 101, 402. 37. Ocarina 10 holes Hornbostel-Sachs number: 421.221.422 Unknown Budrio, Italy 19th-20th century Aerophones Left 02 KG180 Engraved on the left side: Budrio De Lange 1967: 101, 402. 94 Description: Duct-blown vessel flute of clay, with elongated globular-shaped body and pointed terminations. The windway is contained within a projecting mouthpiece and extends along the main body of the instrument, the windway exit being next to a larger ‘window’-hole bored on one side of the body, in proximity to the base of the mouthpiece. The window hole has a sounding edge and a ramp, which are not as smoothed as usual, being rather sharp-cornered. The body accommodates a hole for each finger and thumb. The fingerholes have different diameters and are on the opposite side of the window, arranged in two rows (I, II, III, LLF in a row, on the top left; IV, V, VI, RLF on the right, at a lower height), the thumb holes being above the window, on the left (LTH) and right (RTH) sides. The instrument is black painted with no decorations. On the body, opposite to the window, is engraved the nominal pitch: “Fa”; a vanished ‘stamp’ below is illegible. Size: alto in f'' State of preservation: The craftmanship is not accurate. The paint has been scraped so that the clay’s brown colour is visible in several spots, especially on the mouthpiece next to the mouth-hole and around the thumb holes. Measurements: Overall l.: 166mm; w.: 66.4mm; max. outer ø: 31.4mm; windway l.: c37.5mm; mouth-hole ø (longit. x transv.): 5.5x3.4mm; fingerholes ø (I/II/III/LLF/IV/ V/VI/RLF/L TH/R TH): 5.8/ 6.0/6.0/8.4/6.0/4.1/4.9/4.3mm. Historical Documentation: De Lange 1967: 97, 387: “Given to prof. P.R. Kirby by Alitalia Airways, in 1963, per Mr. Tom Knowles.” Further comments: Budrio, besides being the place where the ocarina in its present form originated, appears to have been the only place where a sort of ocarinas manufacturing tradition was carried on. The inventor of this instrument, Donati, produced indeed ocarinas in Budrio from 1867 until 1878. After he left for Bologna and later for Milan, Vincinelli started to build ocarinas in their birthplace, succeeded by his pupil Guido Chiesa in 1920. Also instruments by Emilio Cesari, another pupil of him, were appreciated from 1920 to 1927.252 References: Bessarabov 1941: 76; Galpin 1946: 173-4; De Lange 1967: 97, 387; Simeoni, Tucci 1991: 249-54; Adversi 1963. 38. Ocarina 10 holes Hornbostel-Sachs number: 421.221.422 Antonio Canella Ferrara, Italy 1878-1940 Aerophones Left 02 KG083 252 Adversi 1963: 37-9. Engraved with trade mark: ANT. CANELLA / FERRARA (Italia) Description: Duct-blown vessel flute modelled from clay, with elongated globular-shaped body pointed at either end, similar to KG180 in construction and arrangement of the fingerholes. The window hole has a sounding edge and a smoothed ramp. The instrument is black painted with a gilt decoration bordering the fingerholes. On the left side, facing the player, is engraved the nominal pitch in a circle: “FA”, and on the other side to the mouthpiece, are the names of the maker and the place. On the side of the mouthpiece, opposite to the window hole, is an engraved gilt stamp, by now too smoothed and illegible. Size: alto in f'' State of preservation: The specimen is quite damaged: the paint has been scraped away in several spots of the body, especially on the mouthpiece, and the mouth-hole is chipped. The right termination of the body has been repaired by gluing the two detached parts together and by painting again along the junction, between the VI and RLF fingerholes. Measurements: Overall l.: 169mm; w.: 68.7mm; max. outer ø: 33.2mm; windway l.: c38mm; mouth-hole ø (longit. x transv.): 6.1x6.2mm; fingerholes ø (I/II/III/LLF/IV/ V/VI/RLF/LTH/RTH): 5.7/5.7/ 5.9/8.6/7.4/6.46.2/5.6/8.1/8.2m m. 253 Adversi 1963: 36-7. 95 Further comments: Antonio Canella, born in Migliarino, produced ocarinas from about 1878 to 1940. Established in Ferrara, he arrived to make up to a hundred ocarinas a day and exported his instruments all round the world, thus becoming one of the main opponents to Donati’s laboratory in Budrio.253 References: Adversi 1963: 36-7; De Lange 1967: 97, 386; D. Liggins, “ocarina”, 2001, in Oxford Music Online; Waterhouse 1993: 56. 39. Ocarina 10 holes Hornbostel-Sachs number: 421.221.422 Heinrich Fiehn (1876-1945) Vienna, Austria 1879? Aerophones Left 02 KG084 Inscribed and stamped (cf. description) Description: Duct-blown vessel flute of terracotta, with slightly elongated globular-shaped body, similar to KG180 and KG083 in construction, the window hole having a smoothed ramp. The instrument is black painted with a gilt ornament bordering the finger- and thumb-holes and covering the body’s terminations. On the left, face to the player and below the I, II, III fingerholes, is engraved the gilt trademark: an ellipse with the inscription “H. FIEHN”; and on the left, below the LLF fingerhole is another vanished reading: “SIDNEY 1879”. On the side of the mouthpiece, opposite to the window hole, is engraved the nominal pitch: “F / 4”. Across the whole body, in proximity to the fingerholes, are painted letters and numbers which might refer to the fingering.254 40. Ocarina 10 holes Hornbostel-Sachs number: 421.221.42 Size: alto in f'' Inscribed: Trade mark below the left thumb hole, inscribed in an ellipse: HENRY FIEHN / BREVETS EN FRANCE / 2[2] G. DU G †255 / VIENNA WETRI † stamp, EXHIBITION State of preservation: The specimen does not have specific damages, except for the exhibition and the trademark stamps, which are at present too smoothed to be legible. Measurements: Overall l.: 142.6mm; w.: 72.9mm; max. outer ø: 42mm; windway l.: c35mm; mouthhole ø (long. x transv.): 8.2x3.0mm; fingerholes ø (I/II/III/LLF/IV/V/VI/RLF/LT H/RTH): 6.0/7.4/6.2/9.0/4.8/ 3.3/4.7/4.1/9.0/8.1mm. Further comments: Heinrich Fiehn was the first person to establish an ocarina factory outside Italy, in 1876-77. In 1881 he patented the ocarina tuning-slide. References: De Lange 1967: 98, 388; Waterhouse 1993: 115. Related objects: Inv. 3894 in Grassi Museum für Musikinstrumente, Universität Leipzig; Inv. 22764 in TMW. Heinrich Fiehn Vienna, Austria 1876-1920 Aerophones Left 02 KG082 Description: Duct-blown vessel flute of terracotta, similar to KG084 in shape, material and construction, but wider and less elongated. Black painted with no further decorations. Size: alto State of preservation: Highly damaged. The paint has been scraped away, especially around the mouth-hole. The most evident damage affects the lower part of the right termination, opposite to the righthand fingerholes, the terracotta partly missing and a part of the trademark removed with it. Measurements: Overall l.: 137mm; w.: 81.8mm; max. outer ø: 43.7mm; windway l.: c36.7mm; mouth-hole ø (longit. x transv.): 6.9x2.7mm; fingerholes ø (I/II/III/LLF/IV/ V/VI/R.LF/LTH/RTH): 4.7/6.1/ 6.2/8.6/5.8/5.2/4.57.8/8.9mm. Historical Documentation: De Lange 1967: 98, 389: “Purchased by Prof. P.R. Kirby’s grandfather when touring the Mediterranean, about 1850-1860.” Nixon, Inventory, 2017: “Property of Professor Kirby's grandfather, who purchased it when touring the Mediterranean, c. 1850-1860.' (Kirby Additional Notes, Africana Museum)” Further comments: The documenting material that arrived to us concerning this ocarina states that the instrument was bought by Prof. Kirby’s grandfather in the 1850s-60s. We do know, however, that the ocarina in this form became fashionable after Donati’s work in Budrio, which started not before than 1867. Furthermore, Fiehn started his production in Wien only in the 1876-77 (see KG084) and obtained the only patent we know of him in 1881. 256 Although the patent was for a tuning slide which is not mounted on this instrument, it might be the one to which the inscription on this specimen refers, thus suggesting a dating after 1881. References: See KG084; De Lange 1967: 98, 389. 41. Ocarina 4 holes Hornbostel-Sachs number: 421.221.422 Unknown 254 Above I: “c”; II: “h”; III: “d”; LLF: “N”; below I, II, III, LLF: “7639”; left to IV: “g”; above IV, V, VI, RLF: “S c d”; below IV, V, VI, RLF: “4341”. 96 This stays for “‘Sans Garantie du Governement.” 256 Patent No. #16668 (Fiehn 1881). 255 Madeira, Portugal c1925 Aerophones Left 02 KG079 Engraved above the 3rd fingerhole: SOUVENIR / OF / MADEIRA Description: Duct-blown vessel flute of terracotta, with an amphora-shaped body, ornamented with impressions of two bands and a sprig in between. At its wider and open end, which has a knob-shape, is a side-slit, at level of the narrower body end, through which the flue passes to exit from an adjacent hole, which acts as a window with its labium and smoothed ramp. Opposite to the window, are the four notaligned fingerholes. Pitch: State of preservation: Good condition. Measurements: Overall l.: 115.8mm; max. outer ø: 32.0mm; windway l.: c7mm; mouth-hole ø (longit. x transv.): 14mm; window w.: 8.6mm; window l.: 8.9mm; fingerholes ø (from embouchure downwards): 5.3/4.8/4.4/3.7mm. Historical Documentation: De Lange 1967: 98, 390: “Purchased by Prof. P.R. Kirby about 1925. Made as a souvenir. […] This instrument yields a pentatonic scale.” References: De Lange 1967: 98, 390. 42. Oboe 3 joints, 2 keys Hornbostel-Sachs number: 422.112 Collard & Collard London, United Kingdom 1835-1868 Aerophones Right 04 Inv. KG149 Stamped on upper joint, above the fingerholes: Collard & Collard / London / L. BINCKES / OLD KENT ROAD On the front, between the 4th twin and 5th fingerholes: Collard & Collard / London Description: Wooden oboe built in three joints fitted together by tenonand-mortise connections, with one ivory ring between the upper and lower joints and two iron? keys on block mountings. The tenons are lapped with waxed claret thread. The bell and the top of the upper joint are rimmed with ivory. The outward form is adorned with turnery work, evoking that of the baroque oboe. The six fingerholes are evenly arranged in the upper and lower joints, the 3rd and the 4th twinned; three vent holes are set in the bell, not-aligned and with different diameter. Two keys are accommodated on the two mountings, the first having square shape, the second with ring shape. The two keys have an octagonal flap with leather? pad. The closed key, for E♭, is pivoted by a pin inserted in the upper key mounting and has an elliptical touch. The open key for c' has a similar flap and a dove-tail-shaped touch. 97 Nominal pitch: c' Keys: one open key for c' and a closed key for e'♭, both on block mountings. State of preservation: The lowest joint is considered to be not original (Nixon, Inventory, 2017). Signs of wear can be found on the upper joint baluster. The plating on the keys’ flap is partly stripped. The closed key’s spring does not react promptly anymore. Measurements: Overall l.: 594mm; upper joint l.: 215mm; lower joint l.: 242mm; bell l.: 137mm; windway entrance ø: 7.8mm; upper joint min. inner ø: c5.8mm; upper/lower joint max. inner ø: 9.5/14.7mm; bell min. inner ø: 14.8mm; inner/outer bell hole ø: c46/68.5mm; fingerholes ø: 2.5/3.2/2.0+2.0/3.3+3.3/5.5/4.8 mm; vent holes ø: 6.3/6.1/ 3.1mm; distance from centre of fingerholes to top end: 140.0/ 170.8/202.6/260.2/295.7/325.7 mm; distance from vent holes (centre) to bottom end: 133.5/ 117.0/93.7mm. Further comments: Collard & Collard was the mark of piano makers and musical instruments dealers succeeded to Clementi & Co. in 1835 and was used until the 1930s. Binckes was also a piano and organ maker and a wind instruments dealer and had his headquarter in Old Kent Road, London, between 1858 and 1864. Subsequently, the name changed to Binckes & Co., maintaining the same address (1865-1868). References: De Lange 1967: 117, 463; Waterhouse 1993: 33, 68. 43. Oboe 3 joints, 11 keys Hornbostel-Sachs number: 422.112 Triébert c1827 Aerophones Right 04 Inv. KG151 Stamped on the bell’s ring: EXPOSITION DE 1827 On the front, between 3rd twin and 4th fingerholes, on the lower joint: TRIEBERT. / PARIS. Description: Oboe made in three joints, fitted together by cork lapped tenons and mortises, with twelve silver keys on pillar mountings on crescent plates and two silver rings. As in the modern oboes, the profile is streamlined, especially if compared to that of KG149, to accommodate the increasingly complex keys’ system. The bell has the characteristic flare, but less broad than that of KG149 and KG152. The six fingerholes are evenly arranged in the upper and lower joints, the 3rd and the 4th twinned and set in a hollow. A small hole is set near the top of the bore and covered by the speaker key, on pillar-and-needle mounting, with the round flap and the oblong touch on opposite sides. The open keys are of the articulated typology with two interlinked shanks, each having its own transverse pivot. A long open key is used to close the hole in the bell, the touch shaft being mounted on the lower joint, and the flap shaft on the bell. The extremity of the touch shaft slots in the other shaft’s extremity, so that they can be easily separated together with the joints for storage. The keys have leather flap pads and cork pads on the rear of the touch. The thumb-rest is fixed to the rear of the lower joint. Size: c' Keys: two open for b and c', eight closed for c'♯, e'♭ with split action, f', f'♯, g'♯, b'♭, halfhole plate for finger I, c'', speaker. State of preservation: A hole in the bell has been plugged with wax. Another hole with the same diameter has been drilled on the opposite side and is covered by an open key. The tenons are very loose. Notches are scattered on the flare beads. The silver rimming ring of the bell is now missing, the wood underneath remained uncovered and painted of the same colour of the rest of the instrument, but not smoothed. There are bluish signs of oxidation on the mountings. Measurements: Overall l.: 559mm; upper joint l.: 212mm; lower joint l.: 205mm; bell l.: 141.5mm; windway entrance ø: 6.9mm; min. inner ø: -; upper/lower joint max. inner ø: 9.6/14.6mm; bell min. inner ø: 17.6; bell hole inner/ outer ø (ring excluded): 36.0/ 55.0mm; fingerholes ø: 2.6/ 2.0+2.0/2.6+2.6/4.5/4.5mm; vent holes ø: -; distance from centre of fingerholes to top end: 98 170/202.1/263.5/296.8/326.6m m. Historical Documentation: Exposition nationale 1827 Paris: 402: “Médailles de bronze […] M. TRIEBET, à Paris, rue Guénégaud, n.° I, / Pour hautbois, cor anglais et baryton. Ces instrumens se distinguent par une grande précision. Le baryton a particulièrement fixé l’attention du jury. Il tient le milieu entre le hautbois et le basson, beaucoup mieux que le cor anglais ; étant d’une octave plus bas que le hautbois et ayant un son plus grave, […].” De Lange 1967: 117, 464: “This instrument won the prize in the Paris Exhibition of 1827, the year of Beethoven’s death. Donated by Mr. T. Waddington.” Further comments: Triébert, Rue Guénégaud, 1, Paris, took part in the Exposition nationale de Paris in 1827 and was awarded the Médaille de bronze for an hautbois, which appears to be the specimen owned by Kirby, a cor anglais à sept clefs, and a baryton ou hautbois tenor. Waterhouse (1993: 404) refers also to a flute with low C key among the instruments presented by Triébert at the exhibition. Georg Ludwig Wilhelm (later known as Guillaume) Triébert, established his workshop in 1810 and was recognised as outstanding oboe maker of his time. Kirby mentions the donor of this specimen, Mr. S. P. Waddington, in his autobiography (1967: 190): Waddington played the oboe side by side with Kirby (flute) and Miss Kathleen Alister as harpist during a performance of the Indian drama Shakuntala, for which Kirby provided the music, for the project of musico-dramatic works at the University of Johannesburg. References: Exposition nationale 1827 Paris: 402 ; De Lange 1967: 117, 464; J. K. Page, G. Burgess, B. Haynes and M. Finkelman, “oboe”, 2001, in Oxford Music Online; Waterhouse 1993: 403-4. 44. Oboe 3 joints, 12 keys Hornbostel-Sachs number: 422.112 Johann Tobias Uhlmann Vienna, Austria 1810-1838 Aerophones Right 04 Inv. KG152 Engraved and blackened on upper joint above the 1st fingerhole: I.T.UHLMANN / WIEN / *; between 4th and 5th fingerholes: * / WIEN / *; bell: (crown) / I.T.UHLMANN / WIEN / * Description: Oboe built in three joints fitted together by tenon and mortise, with ivory rings and twelve silver keys on saddle and block mountings, the extremities of the pivot pins slightly sticking out on either or one side. The construction and the outward form are similar to those of KG151, the tenons being wrapped with claret waxed thread. The thumb-rest is screwed to the block mount supporting the long open key. A vent hole rimmed with ivory is drilled below the bell covered hole, which is set in a rise of the bell, hollowed out to give the same shape of the rounded key flap covering it. The key’s flaps are covered with brown leather pads. The holes covered by the keys have a carved ring-shaped rim. Above the B♭ key is a slot which seems to have been destined to that key’s shaft. The shaft, in turn, appears to have been modified: it might have been a longer and articulated lever, the flap’s shaft having been substituted with a shorter one glued on the touch shaft. On the lower joint, the C and C♯ keys are both pivoted in the upper mounting and act with an “articulated” or “split” action, so that the low C♯ key will automatically close the C hole while the left hand C♯ touch remains held down. The B hole in the bell is covered by an open key on block mounting, whose shaft is inserted in the forked end of another long shaft, passing through slots in the lower and upper key mountings and in a slot in a block mounting below the thumb-rest, the touch being operated by the left thumb. The shaft consists of two interlinked sections, hinged together at the height of the lower joint’s baluster, so that the upper section can be folded downwards, above the lower section, and allow the joints to be stored separately. Size: c' Keys: two open keys for b and c', and ten closed keys for c'♯, long c♯ for L.H., e'♭, long e'♭ for L.H., f', f'♯, g'♯, b'♭, c'', speaker key. 99 State of preservation: There are multiple notches on the tube’s surface and beneath the keys’ touches due to the lack of protective pads. The column bead is highly damaged: almost half missing. The two uppermost block mountings, cracked along the passage of the pins, have been repaired with glue. On the upper key mounting of the lower joint, at the exit of one end of a pin, is a metal patch, brown coloured. Signs of oxidation are scattered on the keys, their mountings and beneath. Measurements: Overall l.: 551mm; upper joint l.: 218mm; lower joint l.: 201mm; bell l.: 132mm; windway entrance ø: 6.5mm; upper joint min. inner ø: -; upper/lower joint max. inner ø: 10.0/13.5mm; bell min. inner ø: 16.1; bell hole inner/outer ø: 47.1/66.1mm; fingerholes ø: 3.0/3.7/3.4/6.1/5.8/5.6mm; vent holes ø: 2.4mm; distance from centre of fingerholes to top end: 134.7/162.2/192.3/249.4/284.2/ 314.5mm; distance from vent holes (centre) to bottom end: 87.3mm. Historical Documentation: De Lange 1967: 117-8, 465: “Donated by Mr. Louis Chossack” Further comments: Johann Tobias Uhlmann established the homonym firm in 1810. In 1833, when his sons Jacob, Leopold and Joseph joined him, the name changed to Uhlmann & Söhne. In the late 1930s it was among the most important firms for the production of wind instruments, sup- plying instruments to the Austrian Army and exporting them to different countries, in and out of Europe. References: De Lange 1967: 117-8, 465; Waterhouse 407-8. typology with interlinked shanks. Twelve closed for c'♯, e'♭, long e'♭ for L.H., f', long f', f'♯ brille, g'♯, b'♭ with duplicate touch, c'', long c'', f'', speaker for left thumb; all on pillar mountings. The brille is on pillar mount with needle spring. 45. Oboe 3 joints, 14 keys Hornbostel-Sachs number: 422.112 State of preservation: The speaker and the B♭ key are sluggish. The lower joint is stuck in bell. Heinrich Friedrich Meyer Hannover, Germany 1848-early 20th century Measurements: Overall l.: 565mm; upper joint l.: 225mm; lower joint l.: 340mm; windway entrance ø: 7.0mm; upper joint min. inner ø: -; upper/lower joint max. inner ø: 10.2/-; bell min. inner ø: c15.3; bell hole inner/outer ø: 39.9/68.4mm; fingerholes ø: 2.7/3.5/2.5+2.5/5.5/5.4/5.4mm; ø vent holes: 4.4mm; distance from centre of fingerholes to top end: 135.4/168.05/202.3/256.2/288. 1/318.9mm; distance from vent holes (centre) to bottom end: 66.5mm. Aerophones Right 04 Inv. KG147 Stamped on upper joint, above the 1st fingerhole and on lower joint, above the bell ring and below the c'♯ key: (crown) / H.F.MEYER / HANNOVER Description: Built in three wooden joints, with little prominent mouldings, flared bell and fourteen keys on pillar mountings, both keys and mountings being of silver. The upper joint’s tenon is lapped with yellowed waxed thread. There are two silver rings. Both the embouchure and the bell hole are rimmed with silver jutting finial beads. The keys have oblong touches and round flaps covered with leather pads. One vent hole is drilled in the bell. A thumb-rest is fastened to the lower joint by means of three flat slotted head screws at level of the 5th fingerhole. Size: c' Keys: two open keys for b and c', both of the articulated lever Further comments: Heinrich Friedrich Meyer, flute specialist, established his own firm in 1848 in Hannover, after being partner with Johann Adolph Neddermann as Neddermann & Meyer for three years. The trademark was used until early 20th century. References: De Lange 1967: 118, 466, Waterhouse 1993: 262. 46. Clarinet 5 joints, 7 keys Hornbostel-Sachs number: 422.211.2 100 Georg Heidegger Passau 1840-48 Aerophones Right 04 Inv. KG044a-b (barrel) Engraved on barrel, on upper joint above the 1st fingerhole, and on lower joint, below the g'♯ key’s touch: HEIDEGGER / PASSAU / (trefoil?) Description: Clarinet of boxwood with cylindrical bore, made in five joints fitted together by tenon-andmortise connections, with black horn rings and seven metal keys on block and wooden saddle mountings. A metal thumb-rest is fastened to the rear of the lower joint with four pins and was probably added at a later time, judging by the different material used and the inaccuracy of its application. The flared bell has an undecorated rim, a double blackened purfling being between it and the flare. The lower joint bears three keys, the open key for e' with interlinked shafts, the upper shaft pivoted on the joint’s moulding, the long key for f'♯, and the short one for g'♯, both mounted on the joint’s ring. The other four keys are on the upper joint: two cross keys for c''♯ and e''♭, a short vertical key for a'' on the lower key ring and the speaker key, whose touch is above the thumb hole, on the rear of the instrument, the lower key ring being cut straight to allow the key’s touch to go down. The flaps have a brown leather pad. Tenons are lapped with yellowish thread. Nominal pitch: c' Keys: one open key e', six closed for f'♯, g'♯, c''♯, e''♭, a'', speaker key on block and saddle mountings. State of preservation: The middle and upper joints are considerably bent. The middle joint is stuck in the lower joint. The upper ring of the barrel is broken and leaves the underneath wood uncovered for about 3mm of its circumference, the barrel having in turn two vertical cracks. Extended black signs of oxidation can be seen especially under the keys’ touches and on the open key’s shaft. The leather pads of the keys for e', g'♯ and e''♭ are not original, having been replaced with white ones. The lower tenon of the upper joint has been covered with a line of white plumber’s tape. Measurements: Overall l.: 515mm; barrel l.: 60mm; upper joint l.: 153mm; middle joint l.: 89mm; lower joint l.: 113mm; bell l.: 100mm; windway entrance (barrel) inner/outer ø: 20.5/28.8mm; bell hole inner/outer ø: c54/78.2mm; fingerholes ø: 6.1/6.3/6.4/6.2/ 7.2/6.6/7.2/8.1mm; distance from centre of fingerholes to top end: 131.2/151.3/173.2/200.3/ 238.0/265.7/292.4/323.7mm. Historical Documentation: Nixon, Inventory, 2017: “[…] Has a cleaning brush KG044d/” Further comments: Georg Heidegger started to make wind instruments in 1833, getting in 1840 his licence as free maker, which was later withdrawn. Subsequently he was registered as instrument maker and obtained a licence for the production of string instruments. He made instruments until c1848. References: De Lange 1967: 114, 452; Waterhouse 1993: 169. Related objects: Inv. 5263 in University of Edinburgh. 47. Clarinet mouthpiece Aerophones Right 04 KG044c (mouthpiece) Description: Mouthpiece for KG044, made of the same material of the body rings of the matching clarinet. Its tenon is wrapped with thread and the outer surface is threaded. State of preservation: Highly damaged: a broken triangular piece of the upper extremity has been glued, the intervention appearing evident. Its lower surface (facing the player) is diffusely scraped. Measurements: Overall l. (tenon excluded): 70mm; aperture l.: 31mm; aperture min.-max. w.: 5-9.5mm. Further comments: This item was suspected to belong to either KG044 or KG046. However, it has been herein recorded with the original accession number related to the Heidegger clarinet, as it is referred to in De Lange 1967. Unknown 19th century Aerophones Right 04 Inv. KG046 No mark Description: Inexpensive clarinet probably destined to bands performances, made of polished boxwood, in four joints, with a construction similar to that of KG044, with keys on block mountings and German silver rings. The barrel has not a bulbous shape but a rather hourglass shape. Unlike KG044, the concerned specimen does not have key rings on the upper joint, the key ring of the lower joint having an umbrella-like shape. The keys have cup-shaped flaps, stuffed with brown leather pads, save for the open key which carries a white pad. The bell is less flared than that of KG044 and is rimmed with a silver ring. The tenons are lapped with waxed yellowed thread. Nominal pitch: b♭ Keys: one open key for one open key e' (d'), six closed for f'♯ (e'), g'♯ (f'♯), a'' (g''), speaker key, b'' (a''). Similar to KG044 in positioning and mountings, the e' key shaft being accommodated in a further slot in an additional mounting set below the key ring. References: De Lange 1967: 114, 452. State of preservation: Good condition despite notches and scrapes. 48. Clarinet 4 joints, 6 keys Hornbostel-Sachs number: 422.211.2 Measurements: Overall l.: 590mm; barrel l.: 56.5mm; upper joint l.: 193mm; lower joint l.: 228mm; bell l.: 101 112mm; windway entrance (barrel) inner/outer ø: 20.6/ 28.4mm; bell hole inner/outer ø: c47/66.3mm; fingerholes ø: 6.5/ 6.6/7.5/6.6/7.4/7.5/7.5/7.5mm; distance from centre of fingerholes to top end: 163.0/181.3/ 208.7/237.8/280.6/315.7/345.4/ 375.6mm. Historical Documentation: De Lange 1967: 114, 453: “An early specimen, lacking a mouthpiece.” References: De Lange 1967: 114, 453. The keys have round flaps covered with leather pads and are on pillar mountings. On the rear is fastened the thumb-rest. The cap of the mouthpiece is made of metal, has a small hole on the top and two incised rings on the curved surface. The mouthpiece comes with a silver collar or ligature, tightened by two screws. Nominal pitch: e'♭’ Keys: two open keys for e' (g') and f'♯ (a'), eleven closed for f' (a'♭), g'♯ (b'), b'♭ (c''♯) brille, b'♭ (c''♯), c''♯ (e''), e''♭ (f''♯), f'' 49. Clarinet 5 joints, 13 keys Hornbostel-Sachs number: 422.211.2 Besson & Co. London, United Kingdom 1858-1862 Not in exhibition Inv. KG141 Engraved on barrel; on lower joint, left to the open key hole: (flower?) / BESSON & C° / LONDON / (five-pointed star) On upper joint, top, front: CLASS / A / BESSON & C° / LONDON / (five-pointed star) On the bell: (flower?) / BESSON & C° / 198 EUSTON ROAD/ LONDON / (five-pointed star) Description: Clarinet made of bakelite, built in five joints, mouthpiece included, with cap, metal rings and thirteen metal keys. Similar to the aforementioned clarinets in construction, the tenons are wrapped with very thin thread. 257 (a''♭), a''♭ (b''), a'' (c'''), side trill key for a''-b'' (c'''-d''') and b''♭c''' (c'''♯-e'''), speaker key; all on pillar mountings, save for open f'♯ (a'), g'♯ (b') and the brille, which are on pillar mountings with needle spring. State of preservation: The barrel is stuck in the upper joint. Notches spread out. Measurements: Overall l.: 409mm; barrel l.: 35.5mm; upper joint l.: 133.5mm; lower joint l.: 162mm; bell l.: 78.3mm; windway entrance inner/outer ø: 13.6/27.7mm; bell hole inner/ outer ø: 56.7/66.2mm; fingerholes ø: 7.2/6.6/6.5/7.7/7.0/8.3/ 8.8mm; vent holes ø: -; distance from centre of fingerholes to top end: 168.0/178.6/197.8/222.0/ 252.3/275.7/299.7mm. Mouthpiece: overall l. (tenon excluded): 62.9mm; aperture l.: 29.5mm; aperture min.-max. w.: 7.2/10.7mm. Mouthpiece cap: h.: 56mm; upper ø: 14mm; lower ø: 27-28mm. Nixon, Inventory, 2017. 102 Historical Documentation: De Lange 1967: 115, 455: “An uncomplete military instrument donated by Mr. Peters.” Further comments: Gustave Auguste Besson established his first workshop in 1837/38 in Paris, leaving his wife as proprietor and moving to London in 1858, where he opened a second factory. In 1875 his daughter Marthe became proprietor after his death. After 1880, the firm’s name changed to Fontaine-Besson. The address of the London factory has been 198 Euston Road from 1858 to 1862. A similar specimen dating from c1862 is housed in the University of Edinburgh (Inv. 4846). References: De Lange 1967: 115, 455; Waterhouse 1993: 29-30. Related objects: Inv. 4846 in University of Edinburgh. 50. Clarinet 5 joints, 13 keys Hornbostel-Sachs number: 422.211.2 Adler?257 Not in exhibition Inv. KG045 Stamped on upper joint and bell: trade mark with eagle Description: Clarinet made of bakelite, built in five joints, mouthpiece included, with metal rings and thirteen metal keys and mountings. Similar to KG141 in construction and design, the tenons are wrapped with red thread. The keys have round flaps stuffed with leather pads and are on pillar mountings. On the rear is the L-shaped thumb-rest. The cap of the mouthpiece is made of metal, and similar to that of KG141, with no hole on top. The thumb-hole is rimmed with metal. Size: a Keys: two open keys for e' (c'♯) and f'♯ (e'♭), eleven closed keys for long f' (d'), g'♯ (f'), b'♭ (g') brille, b'♭ (g'), c''♯ (b'♭), e''♭ (c''), f'' (d''), a''♭ (f''), a'' (f''♯), trill key for a''-b'' (f''♯-g''♯) or b''♭-c''' (g''-a''), speaker key, on pillar mounting, save for open f'♯ (e'♭), g'♯ (f') and the brille, which are on pillar-and-needle mountings. upper ø: 20.5mm; lower ø: 30mm Historical Documentation: Nixon, Inventory, 2017: “Adler [?] clarinet in A. [Bakelite] is useful for military bands because it doesn't break too easily.” References: De Lange 1967: 114-5, 454. 51. Clarinet 4 joints, 15 keys Hornbostel-Sachs number: 422.211.2 Boosey & Co. London, United Kingdom 1878-1915 Aerophones Right 04 Inv. KG047 State of preservation: The bell and the mouthpiece are stuck in the lower and barrel joints, respectively. The E (C♯) open key’s pad is detached from the flap. There are signs of rust on the mouthpiece cap. Engraved Mouthpiece, on the rear, at its basis: BOOSEY & CO / 20642 Barrel: BOOSEY & CO / 20643 C [illegible] & [illegible] ERS [illegible] TTE 23 [illegible] LONDON 5639 Measurements: Overall l.: 639mm; barrel l.: 67.5mm; upper joint l.: 215mm; lower joint l. (bell included): 356mm; bell l.: 110mm; windway entrance inner/outer ø: /29mm; bell hole inner/outer ø: 69.1/81.7mm; fingerholes ø: 7.8/7.7/7.8/7.5/8.4/8.8/9.2mm; distance from centre of fingerholes to top end: 249.2/270.1/ 297.8/332.1/379.5/417.0/447.4 mm. Mouthpiece: overall l. (tenon excluded): 71.4mm; aperture l.: 31.2mm; aperture min.-max. w.: 7.8/11.8mm. Mouthpiece cap: h.: 64.8mm; Description: Clarinet of black wood, similar to the aforementioned clarinets in construction. Built in four joints, with mouthpiece, barrel, bell and body joint in one piece, with silver rings and cork lapped tenons, the lowermost one wrapped with thread. There are fourteen metal keys on pillar mountings. The keys have round flaps covered with white leather. The thumb-rest is screwed to the rear between the 4th and 5th fingerholes. 103 The mouthpiece is cork lapped and has a silver? rimmed tenon. The mouthpiece’s cap has three small holes on the upper part of the curved surface, evenly spaced out, and a double carved line at the top and at middle height. Size: b♭ Keys: two open keys for e' (d') and f'♯ (e'), fourteen closed keys for long f' (e'♭), g'♯ (f'♯), b'♭ (g'♯) brille, b'♭ (g'♯) c''♯ (b'), brille, e''♭ (c''♯), f'' (e''♭), side trill key for g''♯-a'' (f''♯-g'') or c'''-d''' (b''♭-c'''), a''♭, a'', trill key for a''-b'' (g''-a'') and b''♭c''' (g''♯-b''), speaker key; on pillar mountings save for the brille keys, and the keys for f'♯ (e') and long f' (e'♭), which are on pillarand-needle mountings. State of preservation: Crack on the upper tenon. Light signs of oxidation. The mouthpiece is chipped and its reed is missing. Measurements: Overall l.: 574mm; barrel l.: 59.5mm; body joint l.: 415mm; bell l.: 99.5mm; windway entrance inner/outer ø: 15.4/ 27.7mm; bell hole inner/outer ø: 64.3/c59mm; fingerholes ø: 6.9/7.3/7.3/7.2/7.3/7.4/8.4mm; distance from centre of fingerholes to top end: 226.0/241.2/ 269.4/297.6/337.8/372.3/403.1 mm. Mouthpiece: overall l. (tenon excluded): 69.8mm; aperture l.: c31mm; aperture min.-max. w.: 8.3-11.3mm. Mouthpiece cap: h.: 69mm; upper ø: 21.9mm; lower ø: 28.0mm Historical Documentation: De Lange 1967: 115, 456: “Mr. R. S. Caprara, former DirectorGeneral of the S.A.B.C., with this instrument won an Open Scholarship at the Royal College of Music in 1911.” Nixon, Inventory, 2017: “c. 1910 / Formerly property of R.S. Caprara. […] Given to Professor Kirby by Caprara.' (Kirby Additional Notes, Museum Africa )/” Further comments: The dating has been partly inferred on the basis of “An Index to Boosey & Co. Instruments,” which would suggest a dating from 1878-1879. On the other hand, on account of the dating of a few similar specimens by Boosey & Co. housed in the University of Edinburgh, Kirby’s clarinet would date from 1914-1915, which is after the date (1911) when Silvio Réné Caprara used the concerned instrument. It is thus probable that the mouth-piece and the barrel (the only joints been numbered 20642-20643) are a replacement occurred after that date. A further research should, however, consult the information provided by Boosey & Co. in Illustrated Catalogue – Military Orchestral Band Instruments, 1902. Silvio Réné Caprara and Percival Kirby were enrolled at the RCM in the same years; there, Caprara studied pianoforte and clarinet. In 1921 he was chosen as clarinettist for the Cape Town Orchestra. He devoted himself to broadcasting from 1927 on, becoming Manager of the Cape Peninsula Broadcasting Com- pany and later of the African Broadcasting Company. He became also the first Director of the South African Broadcasting Company, which was created in 1916. Kirby worked with Caprara during his broadcasting experience. References: De Lange 1967: 115, 456; Malan 1979: 255; Waterhouse 1993: 40. Related objects: Inv. 4758; 3865 in University of Edinburgh. 52. Natural horn Hornbostel-Sachs number: 423.1 Marcel-Auguste Raoux France 19th century, after 1821 Not in exhibition Inv. KG006 Inscribed on the bell’s rim: RAOUX BREVETE FOURNISSEUR DU SEUL ROI RUE SERPENTE A PARIS Stamped on the bell, 8.5mm from the rim, a monogram: “AR”. Description: Hooped-horn built in three coils, with narrow conical bore and removable funnel-shaped mouthpiece, the coils being soldered along the loops. The tube, built in five sections inserted into each other and soldered, flares to the bell, which is built with a gusset whose edge can be identified both inside and outside. A garland is applied on the outer side of the bell and the thick rim has a wire running inside. The body is strengthened by two braces soldered between 104 the coils and the mouthpipe, and between the coils and the bell. Pitch: D' State of preservation: There are multiple dents along the tubing, especially on the wider coil. The soldering between the outer loop and the inner ones came unsoldered for a tract about 19cm long. The brace linking the coil to the bell is broken at the folded point on the coil; the other folded points bear signs of soldering restauration, being about to collapse. The bell has a crack along one side of the soldered part of the brace. The black covering has been scraped in several spots. Measurements: Overall l.: 424mm; tubing l.: c 4475mm; flaring l.: c1146mm; garland w.: 30.7mm; outer hoop ø: 396mm; inner entrance ø: 7.0mm; outer entrance ø: 11.4mm; terminal bore ø (oval): c273mm. Mouthpiece: l.: 37.9(+20)mm; rim inner/outer ø: 17.4/24.4mm; d.: 27.3mm; throat: -; inner/ outer terminal bore ø: 5.2/ 6.2mm. Historical Documentation: Africana Museum 1981: “Horn, / French hunting horn c. 1700 / Returned to Lender / Oct 1981”. De Lange 1967: 108, 432: “About 1700.” Further comments: Marcel Auguste Raoux succeeded to his father Lucien Joseph as instrument maker in 1821. In 1857 the firm was sold to J. C. Labbaye who retained the mark, never putting his name on the instruments. The mark was exploited next by Millereau from 1878, who retained the “AR” hallmark but usually added his own name. References: De Lange 1967: 108, 432; H. Fitzpatrick, “Raoux”, 2001, in Oxford Music Online; Waterhouse 1993: 221, 318-9. 53. Natural trumpet Hornbostel-Sachs number: 423.1 Unidentified France Possibly 17th century258 Aerophone Display Inv. KG012 No mark Description: Military trumpet made of brass, in two sections of tubing (yards), two bows and a bell section, the yards and bows telescoped into each other and the joints being covered by an ornamental garnish with alternated double and single carved lines. The nearly cylindrical tubing is coiled down to the bell and up again, the narrow end projecting slightly beyond the coil, and being fitted with a cup-shaped mouthpiece with a thick rim. The bell section, in one piece, is circled in the middle by a round “boss” or “ball”, which is decoratively engraved with the same motif of the ferrules: three engraved narrow stripes alternated with three hollowed larger bands. The flared bell end is strengthened by a garland which 258 De Lange1967: 108, 434: “France, about 1650.” is decorated with a row of embossed scallops, a larger band with an engraved geometrical motif of curved lines converging in small circles and stylised eagles with open wings, a row of engraved double zigzag edging the rim, all these rows being separated by an engraved double line. As on German trumpets, the mouthpipe yard and the bell section are separated from each other by a wooden block, with a plaited red and yellow woollen cord wound around block and tubing. The cord forms a carrying loop – the plait being double in the middle – with three ornate tassels at the ends, and is knotted around two brass rings soldered to the inner side of the bows. The narrow section of the mouthpipe is turned with ornamental mouldings. The mouthpiece is of baroque type, with the rim flatter and wider than that of modern trumpets, and with sharp edge between cup and throat. Size: bass trumpet in F State of preservation: A quite big dent is evident on the flaring section. In some spots the painting has become discoloured. Measurements: Overall l.: 610mm; tubing l.: 1831mm; flaring l.: 259 323mm; ball ø: 40.0mm; inner/outer entrance ø: -/-mm 260 bell ø: c106mm; garland w.: 40mm; Mouthpiece: l.: c54mm; rim inner/outer ø: 18.5/27.6mm; d.: c10mm; throat 5.4mm; inner/ outer terminal bore ø: -. 259 From the ball garnish downwards. 105 Historical Documentation: Africana Museum 1981: “Trumpet / French military trumpet c. 1650 / Returned to Lender / Oct 1981.” De Lange 1967: 108, 434: “A military trumpet which belonged to the famous regiment of Musketeers, and was probably heard by the Three Musketeers of the story.” References: De Lange 1967: 108, 434. 54. Natural trumpet Hornbostel-Sachs number: 423.1 Unidentified Aerophone right 05 Inv. KG138 Engraved: Trademark with crown, eagle and trumpet – not yet identified Description: Herald trumpet made of stained brass, similar to KG012 in construction. The ball has the shape of an oblate spheroid, decorated with hollowed bands and not stained. The joints have garnish ornamented with three engraved narrow lines. The garland is decorated with a double row of small dots and a purfling at the edge with the rim. The detachable mouthpiece is inserted in the mouthpipe section and secured by a wire linked to a chain, whose other end is inserted in a ring soldered to the upper section of the tube. The mouthpipe section is linked to the bell section in four points by cross pieces consisting of two small 260 Mouthpiece and tubing are jointed or not detachable. knobs placed and soldered against each other, the cross piece below the ball having a less spherical shape than the two above. The mouthpiece is hemispherical and rather sharp edged at the throat, with a thick rim. Size: bass trumpet in D State of preservation: There is a longitudinal crack in proximity to the upper opening of the mouthpipe. Measurements: Overall l.: 760mm; tubing l.: 2011mm; flaring l.: 415mm; ball ø: 564mm; inner/outer entrance ø: 11.5/14.9mm; 261 bell ø: 130mm; garland w.: 27mm. Mouthpiece: l.: 68.5 (+5.5)mm; rim inner/outer ø: 16.1/26.3mm; d.: 11.5mm; throat: 4mm; inner/ outer terminal bore ø: 9.2/ 11.0mm. References: De Lange 1967: 109, 435. 55. Serpent Hornbostel-Sachs number: 423.213 gether and strengthened with thin leather. A brass ferrule is fixed to the narrower end by one – originally four – pin(s). The brass right-angled crook is inserted in the narrower end of the tubing, its wider termination being threaded to adhere to the inside of the tube; the narrower end for the mouthpiece has a thicker rim. A brass ring is soldered to the crook above the ferrule’s end. The six fingerholes are set in the front, the one for II and V being out of alignment. The silver conical mouthpiece described by De Lange (1967: 110, 440) is now missing. Pitch: C State of preservation: The leather is highly damaged and scraped in various spots. The joint of crook and narrower end of the tube is loose. Signs of oxidation can be seen on the brass sections. Small holes scattered in the tube were generated by xylophagous insects. Measurements: Overall l. (crook excluded): 825mm; tubing l.: c1864mm; crook l.: c375mm; crook inner/ outer entrance ø (rim included): 12.0/16.9mm; inner/outer terminal bore ø: 104/111mm. Unidentified France262 19th century Aerophone Display Inv. KG026 Description: Wooden conical tube built in two hollowed-out halves shaped in three curves and a nearly-circular termination tapering towards the mouthpipe, glued to- Historical Documentation: De Lange 1967: 110, 440: “In France, about 1500. / Purchased by Prof. P. R. Kirby in Paris. Serpents were resuscitated in the 18th century. Nixon, Inventory, 2017: “1800 or about 1880, not 1500! (p.c. Jeremy Montagu 2008)/ Kirby 261 262 Inscribed illegible inside the bell: Measured on the mouthpipe. De Lange 1967: 110, 440. 106 wrote that he estimated it as 'possibly about 1600).” Kirby 1967, Plate 7(a) shows the collector playing upon this instrument. The instrument appears also in a picture conserved in the Manuscript & Archive, UCT (herein reported, see Capitolo II, Figura III, p.31). Further comments: Kirby bought this instrument together with other six specimens for less than 10 pounds during his visit to Europe in 1925, from the estate of the late “M. Andre Nachtigall” (Nixon, Inventory, 2017). References: Baines 1976, trad. It.: 180-1; De Lange 1967: 110, 440. KC431, Manuscripts & Archives, UCT. 56. Keyed bugle with terminal crook Hornbostel-Sachs number: 423.213 Köhler London, United Kingdom 1845-1863 Aerophone Display Inv. KG029 Engraved on the garland: MC Farlane Improved / MANUFACTURED by I. KOHLER / HENRIETTA ST / COVENT GARDEN / London Description: Copper bugle in folded shape with mouthpiece. Ten side holes with raised brass sockets are covered by brass keys mounted on brass saddles. The key nearest to the bell is an open key and gives a half tone lower than the instrument’s pitch. Its key is formed by two interlinked parts, the touch being inserted and pivoted inside a small sphere attached to the flap’s part. Detached just below the saddle mounting, is a hole through which runs a clearance adjusting screw. The screw has a decorated flat head; its point is towards the tube, and when tightened it leans against a prolonged section of the saddle’s plate; thus closing gently the opposite flap key. The other keys are opened to provide a chromatic sequence (c♯, d and e♭ for the right hand, e and f for the left). A brass bridge over the third key enables the right hand to support the instrument, helped by another hand-rest on the tube’s opposite side, behind the ninth keyed hole. The garland consists of a brass bend joined to the copper flared bell. One short loop crook supports the funnel-shaped mouthpiece. Pitch: c with crook to B♭. State of preservation: Good condition. A few traces of oxidation can be seen on the brass parts. Measurements: Overall l. (crook excluded): 466mm; tubing l.: c1183mm; flaring l.: 263 35.7mm; inner/ outer entrance ø: 11.8/13.7mm; bell ø: 158mm; garland w.: 31mm; crook tubing l.: 139mm. Mouthpiece: l.: 59.5(+14.8)mm; rim inner/outer ø: 16.7/26.4mm; d.: 15.0mm; throat: 3.8mm; in- 263 From upper edge of hand-rest down. 264 Waterhouse 1993: 210. ner/outer terminal bore ø: 9.5/ 11.5mm. Aerophone Display Inv. KG030 Historical Documentation: De Lange 1967: 111, 444: “About 1835. Instruments of this type were used by the postillion in ‘Martin Chuzzlewit’.” Nixon, Inventory, 2017: “'Purchased in Cape Town' (Kirby Additional Notes, Museum Africa)/1863-1881 (Jeremy Montagu p.c. 2008)/” Stamped on the bell, near the rim: COURTOIS FRERE RUE DU CAIRE A PARIS. Further comments: On the basis of the address a dating from 1834-1863 can be 264 suggested. George Macfarlane patented his “Macfarlane’s Improved” keyed bugle in 1845 and instruments with such improvement were made by John Augustus Köhler, who represents a high standard of craftsmanship. 265 On the other hand, J. Montagu (p.c. to M. Nixon, 2008) suggested a dating from 1863-1881, probably having on mind the partnership of John Augustus and Augustus Charles Köhler under the name Köhler & Son. References: De Lange 1967: 111, 444; H. Fitzpatrick, “Köhler”, 2001, in Oxford Music Online; Waterhouse 1993: 209-10, 2478. 57. Ophicleide Hornbostel-Sachs number: 423.213 Courtois Frère Paris, France 1821-1845 R. T. Dudgeon, “Keyed bugle”, 2001, in Oxford Music Online. 265 107 Description: Made of brass, with crook and a mouthpiece. The tube is made in two principal parts: a crook almost twice bent upon itself, and the main tube, which is straight from the bell, then is bent in the form of a U back on itself, tapering towards the mouthpipe. The crook also tapers to the mouthpipe, the mouthpiece projecting at the side of the instrument, facing the player. Nine flat keys on raised sockets are mounted on saddles. The first key (open) has a screw for clearance adjustment (like the one described for KG029). The keys are for: B, c♯, d, e♭, e, f, g, a, b♭, the third and fifth keys (counting from the bell) being located at the back and operated by the left-hand and right-hand thumbs respectively. The keys have the shape of flat discs, faced with leather pads for the flaps and cork pads for the rear of the touches. One hand-rest is soldered to the main tube for support of the instrument. A ring for the strap is soldered on the back, between the 3rd and the 5th keys. At the U-shaped bend is an endpin to protect the tube when the instrument is set down. A music stand with a lyre-shape is fastened to the tube, face to the player, with two slotted round head screws. The mouthpiece is said to be conical with a thick rim (De Lange 1967: 111, 443). Nevertheless, as its location has not yet been ascertained, it has not been herein examined. Pitch: E♭. State of preservation: There are multiple dents along the tube, on its outer side. The gusset used to build the bell can be seen inside the bell, the indentation having a greenish colour. The instrument is scattered with oxidation signs. Measurements: Overall l.: 895mm; tubing l.: c 2022mm; flaring l.: 840mm; inner/outer entrance ø: 11.6/ 15.0mm; bell ø: 178mm (+4.7mm of rim). Historical Documentation: De Lange 1967: 111, 443: “Bought by Prof. P. R. Kirby in Paris.” Nixon, Inventory, 2017: “18031845 (Jeremy Montagu p.c. 2008).” Further comments: Courtois Frère was a mark used by one of the “frères” of the firm Courtois Frères, which was established in 1803 by unidentifiable brothers. Both the marks bear the same address in Rue du Caire, Paris; however, that of the independent brother bears no street number. References: Bessarabov: n.176: De Lange 1967: 111, 443; Waterhouse 1993: 73-4. 266 Baines 1996: 139. 58. Slide trumpet with a crook Hornbostel-Sachs number: 423.22 Shaw & Co. London, United Kingdom 1823-1839 Aerophone Right 05 Inv. KG011 Engraved on the garland: Shaw & C° 21 Red Lion Street, Holborn, London Description: Brass trumpet with a terminal crook and mouthpiece, similar to KG012 in shape and construction, two yards and two bows forming the coiled tubing, with an added slide mechanism whereby the length of the instrument can be altered while it is being played. The mechanism consists of a hollow rod attached to the slide bow which runs over a guide rod, held lengthwise across the coil by two short cross-pieces. The mechanism incorporates also the springboxes, held across the middle of the coil by a crossbar; this is of an early model with a double watch-spring mechanism to return the slide to its normal position.266 A finger-pull rod passes around the mechanism rod through the centre, and a fixed disc on it, inside the cylinder, squeezes the spring when the slide is pulled back. The garland is richly engraved with a stylised floral decoration. Two small holes are made in the garland, close to the rim, at the back of the trumpet. Engraving appears also on the coils, on the ball and at the mouthpipe. The 267 The specimen which De Lange refers to is catalogued as 108 ball, highly decorated, has a groove to accommodate the yard passing through it. The crook forms a single loop and bears an engraving reading: GISBORNE / BIRMINGHAM. The mouthpiece is conical and thick-rimmed. Size: bass in F with crook to C Pitch with slide out: E State of preservation: The terminal section of the crook is bent. The end of the tube, below the garland, is deformed. The mouthpiece is stuck in the crook. Measurements: Overall l. (mouthpiece included): 585mm; tubing l.: c1708mm; flaring l.: 369mm; ball ø: 44.3mm; inner/outer entrance ø: 11.4/14.6mm; bell ø: c116.5mm; garland w.: 30mm; slide max. extension: 178.4mm. Crook: tubing l. 634.5. Mouthpiece: l.: 59; rim inner/ outer ø: 16.4/25.4mm; d.: 9.3mm; throat: 4.5mm; inner/ outer terminal bore ø: -/-. Historical Documentation: De Lange: 109, 436: “Post 1810 to around 1830. Converted from a natural trumpet. Belonged to James Hyde, grandfather of James Hyde the Johannesburg musician. The fellow to it, played by the celebrated Thomas Harper, is in the Royal College of music, South Kensington.” 267 Nixon, Inventory, 2017: “All made by Shaw. Not converted. 1823-1839. Slide trumpet invented in late 18th century by RCM0379, Royal College of Music, London. John Hyde. […] (Jeremy Montagu p.c. 2008).” Further comments: This specimen was given to Prof. Kirby by the violinist, conductor and composer James Hyde (b 1849), who arrived in Johannesburg from Kingwilliamstown in 1889. It belonged to his great-grandfather, James Hyde I, who was a trumpeter to the Duke of York and composer of works for the trumpet, and the reputed inventor of the slide trumpet some time before 1812.268 Kirby wrote an article about him entitled “James Hyde, a pioneer musician on the Rand” (1956). During the specimen’s dating period, 1823-1839, the firm was run by Thomas Shaw, first son of the founder, with the name “T. Shaw & Co”. The crook came originally separated and was made by the firm established by James Gisborne in 1939. References: Baines 1996: 139; Barton 1989; De Lange 1967: 109, 436; N. ‘O’ Loughlin, “Shaw”, 2014, in Oxford Music Online; E. H. Tarr, “Slide trumpet”, 2001, in Oxford Music Online; L. V., “James Hyde”, in Malan 19791986, v.2: 253-7; Waterhouse 1993: 135-6, 371-2; Wolpowitz 1969. Related objects: RCM0379 in Royal College of Music, London. L. V., “James Hyde”, in Malan 1979-1986, v.2: 253; Wolpowitz 1969: 9. 268 59. Slide trumpet with five crooks and a shank Hornbostel-Sachs number: 423.22 shank, serving the purpose of adjusting the pitch; the shank is bent and has a brass wingnut at the sides of the embouchure. W. Wyatt London, United Kingdom 1890-96 Size: bass in C with crooks to B', B'♭, A', A'♭ Pitch with slide out: (estimated) A' Aerophone Right 05 Inv. KG021, KG016, KG017, KG018, KG019, KG020a, KG020b Engraved on the bell: 171 / W. Wyatt’s / Perfected Patent/ 123 Portman Buildings / MARYLEBONE / N.W. / Don Godfrey Sons / Sole Agent / 428 STRAND / W.C. Description: Brass and copper? bass slide trumpet (KG021) associated with an assortment of five crooks (KG016, KG018, KG019, KG020a, KG020b) and one shank (KG017). Similar to KG011 in shape and mechanism, differing for the doubly folded slide increasing the length of tubing on both sides of the two coils, and for the presence of one water key with a double flap allowing to release moisture through holes in each bow. The slide mechanism is analogous to that of KG011, with a spring box of a later type based on a band of rubber and with a double-circles pull rod and a squared brass plate for the grip on the above crossbar. The water key is on pillar mounting with a slotted flat head screw. The five crooks are coiled to form a single loop, the smaller one (KG020b), as well as the 269 Waterhouse 1993: 348. 109 State of preservation: The slide is jammed. Knowledge of the slide length comes from the former catalogue (De Lange 1967: 109, 437): “The slide […] increases the length of tubing on both sides of the two coils by 5.5”, adding about 22” to the total.” The mouthpiece is missing. Measurements: Overall l.: 595mm; tubing l.: c2389mm; flaring l.: 382mm; inner/outer entrance ø: 12.3/ 15.8mm; bell ø: c 114mm; garland w.: -; slide max. extension: c559mm. KG017: shank l.: 34(+15)mm; Crooks l. and pitch: KG016: 484(+15)mm; A'; KG018: 615(+20)mm; A'♭; KG019: 228 (+15)mm; B'♭; KG020a: 340(+15)mm; B'; KG020b: 130 (+15)mm. Historical Documentation: De Lange 1967: 109, 437: “About 1898.” Further comments: In 1890, W. Wyatt, a trumpeter, patented a doubly folded slide trumpet and in 1892 advertised a “perfect chromatic doubleslide trumpet.” 269 The two slides, returned by expansion spring, gave a combined pull of eleven inches, thus extending the instrument’s compass of two whole tones. The Wyatt trumpet is also characterized by the nickel inner slide legs which reduce the friction.270 Dan Godfrey Sons is the label used by Harry Godfrey for his firm established in 1890, after working for Gautrot aîné. His address is registered as 428 Strand from 1890 to 1896. References: Barton 1989; De Lange 1967: 109, 437; Waterhouse 1993: 138, 348. 60. Trombone Hornbostel-Sachs number: 423.22 Metzler London, United Kingdom 19th century Aerophone Display Inv. KG139 Engraved on the bell in a flower garland with ribbon on the bottom: METZLER, / LONDON Description: Trombone made of brass, with a slide mechanism and two crosspieces connecting the parallel tubes. The mouthpiece is inserted into the top of one tube; the bell joint fits on to the top of the other. Over the stationary inner tubes runs the slide proper (which is not painted) with a similar mechanism to that of KG011 and KG021, and with a water key for releasing condensed moisture. A knob is at the bottom end of the bend. 270 The mouthpiece is larger than those previously described and has a funnel shape. Aerophone Right 05 Inv. KG022 Size: Tenor in C, extendable up to G' HENRY DISTIN / MAKER / 9 & 10 State of preservation: Very good condition. Measurements: Overall l.: 1025mm; tubing l.: 2446mm; flaring length: 442; inner/outer entrance ø: 11.4/ 13.9mm; outer bell ø: 160mm; slide max. extension: 487x2; Mouthpiece: l.: 64.0mm; rim inner/outer ø: 27.3/35.5mm; d.: 22.3mm; throat: 6.7mm; inner/ outer terminal bore ø: 8.5/ 10.4mm. Historical Documentation: De Lange 1967: 110, 439: “Played by Prof. Kirby in 1906 as a student.” Nixon, Inventory, 2017: “Trombone. Tenor trombone in C. 19th century. Made by Metzler. London. Played by Professor Kirby in 1902 when he was a student. (Kirby Additional Notes, Africana Museum).” Further comments: See KG096. References: A. Baines, “Trombone”, 2001, in Oxford Music Online; De Lange 1967: 110, 439; Waterhouse 1993: 261-2. 61. Trombone Hornbostel-Sachs number: 423.22 Henry Distin London, United Kingdom 1866 Webb 1993: 270-2. 110 Stamped GRT NEWPORT ST / LEICESTER / LONDON / N°8276 / PRESENTED TO / D. N. DEFRIES ESO: / on the 23rd Anniversary of his Birth / BY THE EMPLOYEES OF N.DEFRIES / GAS METER WORKS / DIANA PLACE, EUSTON ROAD / JUNE 27TH 1866 SQUARE Description: Similar to KG139 in construction, made of sterling silver with funnel-shaped brass mouthpiece. Size: Alto in E♭ extendable up to B'♭ State of preservation: Very good condition. Measurements: Overall l.: 790mm; tubing l.: 1966mm; flaring l.: 390mm; inner/outer entrance ø: 11.4/ 16mm; bell ø: 165mm; slide max. extension: c374x2mm. Mouthpiece: l.: 72.2mm; rim inner/outer ø: 24.6/37.2mm; d.: 29.7mm; throat: 8.7mm; inner/ outer terminal bore ø: c9.2/ c10.9mm. Historical Documentation: Nixon, Inventory, 2017: “'This instrument was used by classical composers, but is no longer in use. (Kirby Additional Notes, Africana Museum)/ [mouthpiece?] Comes apart fine. Can be cleaned, and it's in excellent condition. It's smaller than the others (p.c. Jeremy Montagu 2008).” Further comments: Henry Distin succeeded to his father John as proprietor of the firm Distin & Sons and sold out to Boosey in 1868. KG022 was made for the 23rd anniversary of the foundation of the English company N. Defries. References: A. Baines, “Trombone”, 2001, in Oxford Music Online; De Lange 1967: 110-1, 438; Waterhouse 1993: 89-91. 62. Pocket cornet Hornbostel-Sachs number: 423.232.11 Unidentified France About 1840-1850 Aerophone Display Inv. KG028, KG023a-d No mark Description: Pocket cornet (KG028) and four crooks (KG029a-b) made of brass. The instrument has three silver valves across the coils, and a clapper key on the coil near the mouthpipe, which juts just beyond the coil. The gusset is visible in the inside and there is probably a wire inside the bell rim, though not evident. A hooked hand-rest is set on the bell tube, about 10cm from its rim. The touchpieces of the valves are round and flat. The baluster is of a different material, with a screw passing through it. A key with flat and round flap and oblong touch is mounted on pillar mounting, set on a thin slab transversally positioned and soldered to the valve casing and the bent section of the tube. The crooks are marked LAB, FA, MI, SOL. The instrument comes with a funnel-shaped mouthpiece. Pitch: B♭ with crooks to A♭, F, E, G. State of preservation: The specimen has scattered signs of oxidation, especially on the bell, bordering the rim, and around the soldering which links the coils. Marked dents are on the outer surface of the broader coil. The joint between the mouthpipe coil and the adjacent coil has become unsoldered. J. Montagu stated that the slide is not original (p.c. to Nixon, 2008). KG23b has been re-soldered with copper. The section of the tube that enters the mouthpipe is bent towards the coil, so that there is not enough distance for the mouthpipe to pass in between. Measurements: Overall l.: 277mm; tubing l.: c1274mm; flaring l.:271 210mm; inner/outer entrance ø: 11/ 13.5mm; bell ø: 12.6mm. Mouthpiece: l.: 64.5mm; rim inner/outer ø: 16.5/19.3mm; d.: 16.3mm; throat: c4mm; inner/ outer terminal bore ø: 7.6/ 9.2mm. Crooks: l. and pitch: KG023a 243 (+11)mm; A♭; KG023b c526 (+c10)mm; F; KG023c 625 (+13)mm; E; KG023d 326 (+9)mm; G. 271 From the soldering with the top of the mouthpipe down. 111 Historical Documentation: De Lange 1967: 112, 445: “Made in France about 18401850.” Further comments: The valves of this specimen are of the typology devised and improved by Stölzel in 1827. This valve was commonly used in France, Italy and England until the 1840s, in France being favourited for the inexpensive models of cornet for a longer time. References: Baines 1976, trad. It.: 192; De Lange 1967: 112, 445; E.H. Tarr, “Stölzel”, 2001, in Oxford Music Online. 63. Trumpet with two crooks Hornbostel-Sachs number: 423.233.1 Antoine Courtois and Mille Paris, France 1889-1898 Aerophone Display Inv. KG013, KG014 Engraved: At the top end of the crook’s mouthpipe section: FA On the bell: in a circle: MEDAILLE / DE / 1ER CLASSE / EXPOSITION / UNIVERSELLE / 1855 Below : Médaille / LONDRES 1862 / Exposition Universelle / PARIS 1867 / Médaille d’Honneur / EN ARGENT / ANTOINE COURTOISE & MILLE / MILLESR / FACTEUR DU CONSERVATOIRE NATIONAL / 88. rue des Marais St. Martin / Paris / 1ER PRIX / GRANDE MEDAILLE D’OR / EXPOSITION 1872 / MEDAILLE D’OR PARIS 1978 & 1889 / S. ARTHUR CHAPPELL / Sole agent / 52 New Bond Street / London DE MOSCOU Description: Trumpet made of silver with three piston valves, which bents to form a coil, linking with the three valves set across the coil, and continuing beyond the coil to form the mouthpipe where a crook is inserted. The trumpet comes with two crooks: the terminal crook, marked “FA” and made of brass; and KG014, marked “MIB”. On the bell yard is a lyre holder, a support for common lyreshaped music stands for brass band instruments (like that of KG030), in which the lyre’s rod enters and is tightened with a screw. Pitch: c with crooks to F and E♭. State of preservation: A few dents are scattered in the tubing. Blackening in several spots. The joint of KG014 is currently unsoldered and there is a large dent on the bent section. The mouthpiece is missing, though it is described by De Lange (1967: 112, 446) as conical and made of silver alloy, and it is recorded in the Africana Museum Accession Register (1981: KG13) to have been returned to the lender in 1981 together with the trumpet (see Historical Documentation). Measurements: Overall l.: 490mm; tubing l.: c1545; flaring l.: 383mm; inner/ outer entrance ø: 12.5/15.1mm; bell ø: 127mm; terminal crook l.: 407 (+21)mm. KG014: l.: 633 (+20)mm. Historical Documentation: Africana Museum 1981: KG13: “Crook & Spare Mouth Piece / to change pitch of trumpet (KG14) / Returned to Lender / Oct 1981” Africana Museum 1981: KG14: “Trumpet / Returned to Lender / 1981” De Lange 1967: 112, 446: “Donated by Charles Kent, Durban, Natal.” Further comments: Courtoise & Mille was a firm established by Antoine Courtois in 1844 in Paris as “fils de Courtois Frère” and was joined in 1856 by Auguste Mille, who became successor, the firm taking the name “Courtoise & Mille” in 1880. The firm kept that name until 1898, when E. Delfaux became successor. References: De Lange 1967: 112, 466; Waterhouse 1993: 84, 265. 64. London Dome ear trumpet Hornbostel-Sachs number: 423.1 Unidentified 1850-1930 Aerophone Display Inv. KG206 No Mark Description: Brass “London Dome” style ear trumpet consisting of a) a parabolic reflector in a resonating “dome”, named after its similarity in shape to the dome on St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, and b) a tapered sound tube, the “ear piece”, into which the reflector 112 directs the sound. At the mouth of the dome is the “grill” with a flower design on it. State of preservation: Good condition. Measurements: Overall h.: 117.4mm; dome h.: 74.9mm; dome lower ø: 82mm; ear piece inner/outer ø: 4.3/ 11.9mm. Historical Documentation: Africana Museum 1981: KG206: “EAR-TRUMPET / COPPER 11.8 cm. / Returned to Lender / October 1981 / ENTRIES / 920 BEETHOVEN, L V / 617.8” References: N. Bauman 2014; Center for Hearing Loss Help 2006-2016. TAVOLE PLATES 2 5 3 1 I 7 4 6 I 8 left: KG122; right: KG123. 9 left: KG120; right: KG123. II 11 III 10 12 13 14 IV 15 14 15 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 V 16 VI 27 29 28 33 30 31 32 26 34 35 36 42 VII 43 44 45 VIII 37 39 38 40 41 46 48 49 47 50 51 IX 52 53 X 55 64 54 56 XI 59 57 58 60 61 XII 63 62 MARCHI MARKS 4 9 10 12 16 15 17 18 19 21 27 23 27 24 28 25 32 29 33 XIII 34 35 36 37 39 44 40 42 45 43 46 56 59 38 52 57 60 54 58 61 63 XIV Conclusioni I quattro mesi di ricerca presso la Kirby Collection of Musical Instruments, e quelli a seguire volti ad un’analisi più approfondita dei dati raccolti, hanno portato alla luce l’esistenza di un museo degli strumenti musicali sud-africani degno della sua – se pur poco pubblicizzata – reputazione, che ha effettivamente costituito un punto privilegiato di osservazione di un nucleo di strumenti europei presente in una collezione che da subito si definisce come extra-europea o, per meglio dire, sud-africana. Al fronte delle indagini, gli strumenti europei, oggetto di studio approfondito nel presente lavoro, sono apparsi più distaccati rispetto al resto della collezione di quanto non sembrasse da un’analisi preliminare degli esigui documenti pubblicamente accessibili concernenti la collezione. Lo stesso collezionista definisce più volte tale sottogruppo come di trascurabile importanza rispetto al sommo valore degli strumenti africani da lui raccolti, sebbene si contino alcuni esemplari unici: […] my collection of musical instruments especially those of the native peoples of South Africa, […] is probably the most complete ever got together. The European ones are less important, though useful, and include a few unique specimens.272 Tale importanza marginale o, per meglio dire, ausiliare accordata al nucleo di strumenti europei trova la sua controparte nella quasi assenza di interesse da parte di Kirby per la loro documentazione, ed è esplicata nelle teorie evoluzionistiche da lui abbracciate. Egli, infatti, era principalmente interessato alla diffusione geografica e sociale di famiglie e tipi differenti di strumenti musicali, e al loro valore ai fini dello studio delle tappe dell’evoluzione musicale, specie dei Nativi. In tale contesto ideologico, gli strumenti europei fungono per Kirby da meri esemplari di paragone o di “riempimento” di serie evolutive di strumenti musicali, impostate secondo il modello proposto da Pitt Rivers e Balfour. La presa di coscienza delle teorie evoluzionistiche e classificatorie sostenute da Kirby può essere nel nostro caso elevata a chiave di lettura dell’intera storia della collezione e funge da tessuto connettivo tra la collezione stessa nella sua portata materiale e storica, la concezione e messa a punto di un catalogo, e l’impostazione, nonché i contenuti, di pubblicazioni e studi sulla musica degli indigeni sud-africani, pienamente manifestati nella pubblicazione del suo capolavoro The Musical Instruments of the Native Races of South Africa. Tuttavia, in questa catena vi è un tassello fuori posto rappresentato dalla (non) messa in pratica di tali idee e teorie nella realizzazione dell’esposizione della collezione musicale. Ed è a questo proposito che si può pienamente concordare con Michael Nixon (2014) nel parlare di un’ambivalenza di Kirby, manifestata innanzitutto in tale non corrispondenza tra teoria e pratica, ma anche nella contraddittorietà di certe asserzioni riguardo i principi classificatori che di volta in volta vengono da lui discussi, raccomandati, condannati e assunti a fondamento dei suoi lavori. Nella presente indagine, la figura di Kirby e i materiali da lui raccolti (materiale iconografico in generale e “tracce visive” della collezione in primis) sono stati fondamentali criteri interpretativi per comprendere l’atteggiamento del collezionista nei confronti della tradizione africana degli strumenti musicali, ma soprattutto per risalire a certe idee riguardo al collezionismo, alle teorie classificatorie degli strumenti a lui contemporanee e alle modalità di esibizione ad esse associate, nonché al trattamento da lui riservato alla sezione europea della sua collezione. È dunque opportuno parlare della Kirby Collection non solo come collezione di strumenti musicali, ma anche cocme collezione visiva e collezione sonora, sebbene queste ultime non abbiano ufficialmente ottenuto tale status e vengano ancora considerate come materiale di accompagnamento agli strumenti musicali. 272 Lettera di Kirby a H. Wagner, 17/04/1959. 113 La ricerca presso la Kirby Collection di informazioni specifiche e dettagliate che permettano la collocazione degli strumenti musicali in uno spazio e in un tempo più o meno definiti e l’identificazione delle persone ad essi associate, quali esecutori, costruttori, ascoltatori, donatori, etc., si è rivelata il più delle volte deludente. Questo è dovuto in parte al fatto che Kirby, sorprendentemente, non usasse documentare tali aspetti della sua attività. D’altra parte, nel momento in cui la collezione è stata acquisita dal SACM nel 1983, le carte di Kirby, i suoi libri e documenti sono stati depositati presso la sezione Manuscripts and Archive del polo bibliotecario della UCT, e semplicemente etichettati con la sigla “KC”, la quale sta per Kirby Collection. Non è stato fatto molto altro per ordinare tali materiali e al momento sono conservati in cartelle di cartone in parte organizzate per affinità fisiche dei materiali contenuti, e non più ordinati in base al gruppo etnico di riferimento, come lo erano stati dagli anni '50 presso l’Africana Museum.273Questo rende ancora più difficoltoso l’orientamento in mezzo ai materiali prevalentemente di argomento etnomusicologico volto alla scoperta delle rarissime testimonianze riguardo gli strumenti europei della collezione. Inoltre, una parte ragguardevole della Kirby Collection è stata persa nel tempo, in parte a causa dell’uso che ne è stato fatto, e in parte a causa delle condizioni di scarsa conservazione cui è stata sottoposta prima della sua recente curatela professionale presso il South African College of Music. Tale perdita ha coinvolto alcuni appunti presi sul campo, molti contenuti sonori, nonché una “collezione alternativa” di strumenti, distrutti da insetti xilofagi nel deposito a Wits. Recentemente i cilindri fonografici sono stati oggetto di studio di vari esperti e il loro valore è stato considerato irrimediabilmente perduto. Ciò che resta è una lista di field recordings redatta da Kirby, trascrizioni di intere parti delle registrazioni, e un numero esiguo di cilindri danneggiati.274 D’altra parte c’è ancora chi, come Lesley Hart, responsabile del servizio informativo delle Special Collections, spera che una tecnologia più avanzata permetterà un giorno di ottenere migliori risultati dal lavoro su tali testimonianze sonore.275 In ogni caso, il fatto che alcune di queste registrazioni siano oggi digitalmente accessibili è un grande passo avanti per il ritrovamento e riconoscimento del loro valore, ma deve ancora essere pubblicizzato adeguatamente presso la comunità di ricerca. Nel corso degli anni la Collezione di Kirby ha attirato l’attenzione di diversi studiosi che si sono di volta in volta interessati ad aspetti di essa molto diversi tra loro. Ne sono esempio una ricerca svolta dall’allora studente Andrew Somma (2008) sulla musica nel campo di prigionia di Zonderwater, che si intreccia con la storia del violino ottenuto da Kirby in circostanze sconosciute (KG145) e gli studi condotti da Niklaas Zimmer (2013) sui cilindri della Kirby Collection. Prospettive future La collaborazione della Kirby Collection con altri musei, sebbene desiderabile, non è ancora avvenuta in quanto negli ultimi due decenni la priorità è stata data al rinnovamento degli spazi espositivi e al lavoro di recupero e conservazione dei numerosi strumenti musicali. Negli anni passati, inoltre, il curatore Michael Nixon è stato impegnato nella realizzazione di un database consultabile online (UCT LibrariesW) che idealmente mette a disposizione informazioni base e fotografie di ogni esemplare della collezione musicale, ma che nella pratica contiene molti errori verificatisi nel momento in cui è avvenuto il passaggio dei contenuti sulla piattaforma online. Tale database costituisce in ogni caso un preziosissimo luogo di accesso alla collezione e della presa di coscienza del suo valore 273 Nixon 2014: 226. Nixon 2014: 196. 275 L. Hart-N. Zimmer, corrispondenza via e-mail, cit. Zimmer 2013: 19. 274 114 e si spera che in un futuro prossimo sarà portato a compimento e reso noto presso la comunità di ricercatori. Lo studio sul campo appare essere per il momento l’assoluta priorità. Tra tanti, un campo di indagine ancora in sospeso è rappresentato da alcuni strumenti oggi ufficiosamente dispersi, tra cui un violoncello che si diceva fosse appartenuto alla regina Marie Antoinette, che potrebbe, e dovrebbe, condurre ad ulteriori ricerche, a partire dal recupero e dall’analisi del registro di acquisizione della Kirby Collection compilato dalla UCT. Oggi più che mai si sente il bisogno di un’intensificazione della ricerca sul campo, in quanto la Collezione di Kirby, ancora relativamente giovane, sta vivendo gli ultimi decenni, o forse anni, in cui è ancora possibile un contatto personale e diretto con individui che furono in qualche modo coinvolti nella storia e nella formazione della collezione e dei suoi strumenti. Il lavoro di conservazione e di ricerca della Kirby Collection ha dunque ancora molta strada davanti a sé e il lavoro catalografico qui presentato ha probabilmente aperto più questioni di quante ne abbia risolto. La collezione si appresta ad avere un nuovo curatore nel 2018 ed attualmente l’obiettivo perseguito è quello di un approccio conservativo e del mantenimento della collezione come riferimento storico.276 276 Nixon, c.p., 2017. 115 116 Bibliografia Adversi 1963 ALDO ADVERSI, L’ocarina di Budrio, Bologna: Bongiovanni, 1963. Africana Museum 1968 AFRICANA MUSEUM, City of Johannesburg, Annual Report, n.33, Johannesburg: Eagle Press, 1968. Africana Museum 1981 AFRICANA MUSEUM, Accession Register, 1981. Baines 1961 ANTHONY BAINES, Musical Instruments through the Ages, London: Faber & Faber, 1961. Baines 1968a ANTHONY BAINES (a cura di), Victoria and Albert Museum, Catalogue of Musical Instruments, London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, Vol. 1, 1968. Baines 1968b ANTHONY BAINES (a cura di), Victoria and Albert Museum, Catalogue of Musical Instruments, London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, Vol. 2, 1968. Baines 1976 ANTHONY BAINES, Brass Instruments: their history and development, London: Faber and Faber, 1976 (trad. it. Renato Meucci (a cura di), Gli ottoni, Torino: EDT, 1991). Baines 1991 ANTHONY BAINES, Woodwind Instruments and their history, New York: Dover Publications, 1991. Baines 1992 ANTHONY BAINES, The Oxford Companion to Musical Instruments, Oxford-New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. Barton 1989 PETER BARTON, “The Woodham-Rodenbostel Slide Trumpet and Others, Employing the ‘Clock-Spring’ Mechanism” in GALPIN SOCIETY, The Galpin Society Journal, Vol. 42 (Aug., 1989), pp. 112-120. Bessarabov 1941 NIKOLAI BESSARABOV, Ancient European musical instruments: An organological study of the musical instruments in the Leslie Lindsey Mason Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston: Harvard University Press, 1941. Blades 1984 JAMES BLADES, Percussion Instruments and Their History, London, Boston: Faber and Faber, 1984. Boalch 1995 DONALD HOWARD BOALCH, Makers of the harpsichord and clavichord 1440-1840, Oxford: Clarendon, 3a ed., 1995. 117 Boyden 1969 DAVID D. BOYDEN, Catalogue of the Hill Collection if Musical Instruments in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, London: Oxford University Press, 1969. Bryer 1965 VALERIE BRYER, Professor Percival Robson Kirby, head of the Department of music, University of the Witwatersrand, 1921-1954: a bibliography of his works, Johannesburg: Public Library, 1965. “Collecting Music of the Bantu People, Professor P.R. Kirby’s Research Work in the City”, articolo di giornale, s.l., n.d. (BC 750 P. R. KIRBY COLLECTION, presso Manuscripts and Archives, UCT). Faletti, Meucci, Rossi Rognoni 2001 FRANCA FALLETTI, RENATO MEUCCI, GABRIELE ROSSI ROGNONI (a cura di), La Musica E I Suoi Strumenti. La Collezione Granducale del Conservatorio Cherubini, Firenze: Giunti, 2001. Gai 1969 VINICIO GAI (a cura di), Gli strumenti musicali della corte medicea e il Museo del conservatorio Luigi Cherubini di Firenze, Firenze: Licosa, 1969. Galpin 1946 CANON FRANCIS W. GALPIN, A Textbook of European Musical Instruments: Their Origin, History and Character, London: Williams & Norgate LTD, 1946. Galpin 1978 CANON FRANCIS W. GALPIN, Old English Instruments of Music: Their History and Character, London: Methuen & Co, 4a ed. rev., 1978. Galpin Society 1968 THE GALPIN SOCIETY, The Galpin Society Journal, European Musical Instruments: An Exhibition of European Musical Instruments, Edinburgh International Festival, Reid School of Music, Edinburgh University, 1968. Gatti 1998 ANDREA GATTI (a cura di), Museo Degli Strumenti Musicali: Castello Sforzesco, Milano: Electa, 1998. Gatti 1999 ANDREA GATTI, “Moulding Castings in Musical Instruments: The Approach to the Problem, the Scientific Investigations and the Methodology Used at the Collection of Musical Instruments of the Castello Sforzesco in Milan” in GALPIN SOCIETY, The Galpin Society Journal, Vol. 52 (Apr. 1999), pp. 202-218. Guizzi 2008 FEBO GUIZZI, “Il genio sovrano del misero Cieco di Bobbio: Immagine, verità e falsità musicale fra gusto borghese e virtuosismo popolare” in VALTER BIELLA (a cura di), Sivlì e sivlòcc: flauti e zufoli in terra di Bergamo, 2008, pp. 39-74. Haine 1985 MALOU HAINE, Les facteurs d’instruments de musique à Paris au XIXe siècle: des artisans face à l’industrialisation, Bruxelles: Editions de l’Université de Bruxelles, 1985. 118 Howe 2003 ROBERT HOWE, “The Boehm System Oboe and its Role in the Development of the Modern Oboe”, in THE GALPIN SOCIETY, The Galpin Society Journal, Vol. 56 (Giu. 2003), pp. 27-60. Kirby 1928 PERCIVAL R. KIRBY, “The Kettle-Drums: An Historical Survey”, in Music & Letters, Vol. 9 (1 Gen. 1928), pp. 34-43. Kirby 1930a PERCIVAL R. KIRBY, “A Study of Negro Harmony: an analysis of the harmonic structure of eight Negro spirituals” in The Musical Quarterly, 16(3) 1930, pp. 404-14. Kirby 1930b PERCIVAL R. KIRBY, The Kettledrums: a book for composers, conductors and kettledrummers, London: Oxford University Press, 1930. Kirby 1932 PERCIVAL R. KIRBY, “Musical Origins in the Light of the Musical Practices of Bushman, Hottentot and Bantu,” 1932, in Proceedings of the Musical Association, 59th Sess. (1932-33), pp. 23-33. Kirby 1933 PERCIVAL R. KIRBY, “The Reed-Flute Ensembles of South Africa: A Study in South African Native Music”, in The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 63, (Lug.Dic. 1933), pp. 313-388. Kirby 1934 PERCIVAL R. KIRBY, The Musical Instruments of the Native Races of South Africa, London: Oxford University Press, 1a ed., 1934. Kirby 1949 PERCIVAL R. KIRBY, “African Music”, in ELLEN HELLMANN, Handbook on Race Relations in South Africa, Geoffrey Cumberlege Oxford University Press Cape Town, London, New York, 1949, pp. 219-227. Kirby 1952 PERCIVAL R. KIRBY, Review of “Catalogue Général des Antiquités Egyptiennes du Musée du Cauire, Nos. 69201-69852, Intruments de Musique, by Hans Hickmann, Cairo, 1949”, in Man, Vol. 52 (Feb. 1952), pp. 23-4. Kirby 1956 PERCIVAL R. KIRBY, “Bilateral variation between ears in pitch discrimination”, in South African Medical Journal, 30(42) (Ott. 1956), pp. 1015-6. Kirby 1958 PERCIVAL R. KIRBY, “Physical phenomena which appear to have determined the bases and development of an harmonic sense among Bushmen, Hottentots and Bantu as I have observed them in Southern Africa”, in Bericht über den Siebten Internationalen Musikwissenschaftlichen Kongress, Köln, 1958. 119 Kirby 1959 PERCIVAL R. KIRBY, “The Use of European Musical Techniques by the Non-European Peoples of Southern Africa”, in Journal of the International Folk Musik Council, Vol. 11 (1959), pp. 37-40. Kirby 1967 PERCIVAL R. KIRBY, Wits End: an unconventional autobiography, Cape Town: Howard Timmins, 1967. Kirby 1968 PERCIVAL R. KIRBY, The Musical Instruments of the Native Races of South Africa, Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, 2a ed., 1968. Kirby n.d. PERCIVAL KIRBY, “1111242222”, ms., s.l., n.d. Kirby 1930-1969 PERCIVAL KIRBY E ALTRI AUTORI, Corrispondenza epistolare, BC 750 P. R. KIRBY COLLECTION, presso Manuscripts and Archives, UCT. R. F. K. 1954 R.F.K., “Professor Kirby Lectures on his Instruments”, in AFRICANA SOCIETY, Africana notes and news, Vol. XI, No. 4 (Set. 1954), pp. 102-3. De Lange 1967 MARGARET DE LANGE, Catalogue of The Musical Instruments in The Collection of Prof. Percival R. Kirby, Johannesburg: Africana Museum, 1967. Leschiutta 1983 SIGFRIDO LESCHIUTTA, Cembalo, spinetta e virginale, Ancona: Bèrben, 1983. Libin 2014 LAURENCE LIBIN, The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments, 2nd Ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. Lobley 2015 NOEL LOBLEY, Review of “Musical Instruments of Indigenous People of South Africa, Third Edition By Percival Kirby”, in GALPIN SOCIETY, The Galpin Society Journal, Vol. 68 (2015), pp. 242-245. Lütgendorff 1922 WILLIBALD LEO LÜTGENDORFF, Die Geigen- und Lautenmacher vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart, Frankfurt am Main: Frankfurter Verlags - Anstalt A. G., 1922. Lütgendorff 1990 WILLIBALD LEO LÜTGENDORFF, Die Geigen- und Lautenmacher vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart, Tutzing: Schneider, 1990. Mahillon 1893 VICTOR-CHARLES MAHILLON, Catalogue descriptif et analitique du Musée Instrumental du Conservatoire Royal de Musique de Bruxelles, Bruxelles: Th. Lombaerts, 2a ed., Vol. 1, 1893. 120 Mahillon 1896 VICTOR-CHARLES MAHILLON, Catalogue descriptif et analitique du Musée Instrumental du Conservatoire Royal de Musique de Bruxelles, Bruxelles: Th. Lombaerts, 2a ed., Vol. 2, 1896. Mahillon 1900 VICTOR-CHARLES MAHILLON, Catalogue descriptif et analitique du Musée Instrumental du Conservatoire Royal de Musique de Bruxelles, Bruxelles: Th. Lombaerts, 2a ed., Vol. 3, 1900. Mahillon 1912 VICTOR-CHARLES MAHILLON, Catalogue descriptif et analitique du Musée Instrumental du Conservatoire Royal de Musique de Bruxelles, Bruxelles: Th. Lombaerts, 2a ed., Vol. 4, 1912. Mahillon 1922 VICTOR-CHARLES MAHILLON, Catalogue descriptif et analitique du Musée Instrumental du Conservatoire Royal de Musique de Bruxelles, Bruxelles: Th. Lombaerts, 2a ed., Vol. 5, 1922. Malan 1979 JACQUES P. MALAN, South African Music Encyclopedia, Cape Town: Oxford University Press, Vol. 1, 1979. Malan 1982 JACQUES P. MALAN, South African Music Encyclopedia, Cape Town: Oxford University Press, Vol. 2, 1982. Malan 1984 JACQUES P. MALAN, South African Music Encyclopedia, Cape Town: Oxford University Press, Vol. 3, 1984. Malan 1986 JACQUES P. MALAN, South African Music Encyclopedia, Cape Town: Oxford University Press, Vol. 4, 1986. Van der Meer 1993 JOHN HENRY VAN DER MEER (a cura di), Strumenti musicali europei del Museo Civico Medievale di Bologna, Bologna: Nuova Alfa Editoriale, 1993. Van der Meer 2006 JOHN HENRY VAN DER MEER, Arte e musica negli strumenti della collezione di Fernanda Giulini, Briosco: Villa Medici Giulini, 2006. Van der Mescht 2009 HEINRICH VAN DER MESCHT, “Annotating Percival Kirby’s Autobiography concerning his studies at the Royal College of Music in London, 1910-1913”, in South African Journal of Cultural History, 21 (Nov. 2007), pp. 159-183. Meucci 1993 RENATO MEUCCI, “La Catalogazione Degli Strumenti Musicali”, in Le Fonti Musicali In Italia, Roma: CIDIM; Bologna: Società italiana di musicologia, Vol. 7, 1993, pp. 86-124. 121 Meucci 2017 RENATO MEUCCI, “Gabriele d’Annunzio e Arnold Dolmetsch, l’apostolo della musica antica” in LIVIO ARAGONA, CLAUDIO TOSCANI (a cura di), La Polifonica Ambrosiana (1947-1980): musica antica nell’Italia del secondo dopoguerra, Lucca: Libreria musicale italiana, 2017. Montagu 2002 JEREMY MONTAGU, Timpani and percussion, London: Yale University Press, 2002. Morley-Pegge 1956 R. MORLEY PEGGE, “The Regent’s Bugle” in GALPIN SOCIETY, The Galpin Society Journal, Vol. 9 (Giu. 1956), pp. 91-96. Nixon 2014 MICHAEL NIXON, “Depths of Field: Photographs and Early Southern African Music Studies”, in PIPPA SKOTNES, CAROLYN HAMILTON, Uncertain Curature In and Out of the Archive, Johannesburg: Jacana, 2014, pp. 189-227, 404-424. O’Brien 1990 GRANT O’BRIEN, Ruckers, A harpsichord and virginal building tradition, Cambridge, New York, Port Chester: Cambridge University Press, 1990. Pollens 2015 STEWART POLLENS, The Manual of Musical Instrument Conservation, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015. Praetorius 1619 MICHAEL PRAETORIUS, Syntagmatis Musici Michaelis Praetorii C., Wolfenbuttel, 1619. “Professor Kirby’s Museum of Musical Instruments”, ms., in Lettera di Dreman a P.R. Kirby, 15 luglio 1946 (BC 750 P. R. KIRBY COLLECTION, presso Manuscripts and Archives, UCT). Restelli a.a. 2012/2013 ALESSANDRO RESTELLI, La falsificazione di strumenti musicali. Un’indagine storico-critica, tesi di Dottorato, Università degli studi di Milano, a.a. 2012/2013. Sachs 1968 CURT SACHS, The History of Musical Instruments, New York: J. M. Dent, 1968. Senn 1954 WALTER SENN, Musik und Theater am Hof zu Innsbruck, Innsbruck: Osterreichische, 1954. Shaw 1940 MARGARET SHAW, “Cataloguing Ethnographic Material” in South African Museums Association Bulletin, 2 (5), 1940, pp. 118–122. Simeoni, Tucci 1991 PAOLA SIMEONI, ROBERTA TUCCI (a cura di), La collezione degli strumenti musicali del Museo Nazionale delle Arti e Tradizioni Popolari di Roma, Roma: Libreria dello Stato, 1991. 122 South African Museum 1955 SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM, The South African Museum, Cape Town, 1855-1955, Cape Town: The Museum, 1955. Somma 2007 DONATO ANDREW SOMMA, Mythologising music: Identity and Culture in the Italian Prisoner of war camps of South Africa, A thesis submitted to the faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2007. Stanley 1921 ALBERT STANLEY, Catalogue of the Stearns Collection of Musical instruments, Ann Arbor, Michigan: The University Press, 1921. Valdrighi 1967 LUIGI FRANCESCO VALDRIGHI, Nomocheliurgografia antica e moderna, ossia Elenco di fabbricatori di strumenti armonici, Bologna: Forni, stampa 1967, ripr. dell.ed. Modena: Società tipografica, 1884 con “Terza aggiunta”, 1888 e “Quinta aggiunta”, 1894. Vannes 1988 RENE VANNES, Dictionnaire universel de luthiers, Bruxelles: Les amis de la musique, 3a ed., 1988. Waterhouse 1993 WILLIAM WATERHOUSE, The new Langwill index: a dictionary of musical wind-instrument makers and inventors, London: T. Bingham, 1993. Webb 1993 JOHN WEBB, “The English Trumpet”, in Historic Brass Society Journal, 5, 1993. Wolpowitz 1969 LILY WOLPOWITZ, James & Kate Hyde and the development of music in Johannesburg up to the First World War, Pretoria: J. L. Van Schaik Limited, 1969. Wraight 2017 DENZIL WRAIGHT, “Two Harpsichords by Giovanni Celestini” in GALPIN SOCIETY, The Galpin Society Journal, Vol. 46 (Mar. 1993), www.jstor.org/stable/842351. Ultimo accesso 22/02/2018. Young 1993 YOUNG, PHILLIP T., 4900 historical woodwind instruments: an inventory of 200 makers in international collections, 2nd rev. ed., London: Birmingham, 1993. Zimmer 2013 NIKLAS ZIMMER, “Percival Kirby’s wax cylinders – Elegy on archiving a deaf spot” in A journal of African studies, Vol. 41, Ott. 2013. 123 Sitografia “An Index to Boosey & Co. Instruments” “An Index to Boosey & Co. Instruments”, in Horn-u-Copia, <www.horn-ucopia.net/serial/Booseylist.html>. Ultimo accesso 22/02/2018. Associazione Zonderwater n.d. ASSOCIAZIONE ZONDERWATER BLOCK EX POW, “Zonderwater: a concentration camp in South Africa”, <www.zonderwater.com/en/>. Ultimo accesso 22/02/2018. Barclay 1997 ROBERT BARCLAY, The Care Of Historic Musical Instruments, Edinburgh: Museums And Galleries Commission, 1997, <network.icom.museum/cimcim/resources/thecare-of-historic-musical-instrumentsfull-text/>. Ultimo accesso 22/02/2018. Bauman 2014 NEIL BAUMAN, “London Domes (London Hearing Horns)”, 2014, <www.hearingaidmuseum.com/resources/LondonDomes.pdf>. Ultimo accesso 22/01/2018. Cavanagh n.d. LYNN CAVANAGH, “A brief history of the establishment of international standard pitch a=440 hertz”, <www.wam.hr/sadrzaj/us/Cavanagh_440Hz.pdf>. Ultimo accesso 22/02/2018. Center for Hearing Loss Help 2006-2016 CENTER FOR HEARING LOSS HELP 2006-2016, “London Dome Ear Trumpet (Ear Horn)” in The Hearing Aid Museum. <www.hearingaidmuseum.com/gallery/NonElectric/EarTrumpets/Short%20Trumpets/info/londondome2.htm>. Ultimo accesso 22/02/2018. Exposition nationale 1827 Paris EXPOSITION NATIONALE 1827 PARIS, HERICART-FERRAND DE THURY, LOUIS-ÉTIENNE-FRANÇOIS, Rapport sur les produits de l'industrie française présenté au nom du jury central à S. E. M. le Comte de Saint-Cricq, Paris: Imprimerie royale, 1828, <cnum.cnam.fr/redir?8XAE15>. Ultimo accesso 05/03/2018. Fiehn 1881 HEINRICH FIEHN, Patentschrift No 16668, Vienna, 15 Mar. 1881, <www.delcampe.de/en_GB/collectables/music-instruments/musical-instruments/original-patent-h-fiehn-inwien-1881-musikinstrument-ocarina-ocarinas-321677101.html>. Ultimo accesso 22/01/2018. Howell 2016 JOCELYN HOWELL, “Boosey & Hawkes: The rise and fall of a wind instrument manufacturing empire”, tesi di Dottorato non pubblicata, University of London, 2016, <openaccess.city.ac.uk/16081/2/Howell%2C%20Jocelyn%20Vol%202.pdf>. Ultimo accesso 22/02/2018. ICOM 2007 ICOM, “Museum Definition” in ICOM, Icom Museum, 2010-2018, <icom.museum/the-vision/museumdefinition/>. Ultimo accesso 22/02/2018. 124 Knowles 2016 ANDREW KNOWLES, “Georgian Watchmen – Security on the Night – time streets”, 2016, in <www.regencyhistory.net>. Ultimo accesso 22/02/2018. 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F.; 62; 73; 75 Bryer, Valerie Professor Percival Robson Kirby...a bibliography of A Aberdeen Amateur String Orchestra; 11 Aberdeen Choral Union; 9; 10 Aberdeen Madrigal Choir; 9 Aberdeen Orchestral Society; 11 Aberdeen Training Centre; 11 Adler; 102 Africana Museum, Johannesburg; 4; 5; 25; 31; 34; 35; 36; 39; 45; 57; 114 his works; 5 Burchell, William John; 17; 26 Buthelezi, Gatsha; 40 C campanella, handbell; 53 KG158, KG159, KG160, KG161; 53; 58 Canella, Antonio; 77; 78; 95 Canongia & Ca; 80 Cape Peninsula Broadcasting Company; 104 Cape Town Orchestra; 16; 104 Alister, Kathleen; 98 Antoine Courtois and Mille; 78; 111 arpa, harp a. a pedali a doppio movimento, double-action pedal h.; 62; 75 a. a pedali a movimento semplice, single-action pedal h.; 62; 73 Harpe de l’Impératrice Joséphine; 73 Caprara, Silvio Réné; 104 Carte, Richard; 88 castagnette, castanets; 53; 54 KG172; 52; 53; 54 KK062; 52; 54 KK063; 52; 54 KK063-KK064; 54 KK064; 52; 54 castanets. Vedi castagnette KG015; 51; 62; 72; 73 KG126; 52; 73; 74 misurazioni, measurements; 45 B B. Schott fils; 92 Bainbridge & Wood; 81 Bainbridge, William; 76; 80; 81 Balfour, Henry; 31; 32; 33; 113 Barnard, W. P.; 19 Barnett Samuel & Sons; 56 Cesari, Emilio; 77; 78 Champion; 62; 72; 73 Change ringing; 53; 58 Chappell, Frank; 11; 79 Chiesa, Guido; 78 Chossack, Louis; 99 Chubb, E. C.; 26; 35 Church of Scotland Training College; 9; 11 clarinetto, clarinet; 47; 50; 76; 78; 104 Beaumont, Francis, Fletcher, John The Knight of the Burning Pestle; 25; 89 Beethoven, Ludwig van; 10 Wellingtons Sieg; 56 Berlioz, Hector Roman Carnival; 16 Besson; 102 Besson & Co.; 102 Besson, Gustave Auguste; 102 KG044; 101 KG045; 51; 102; 103 KG046; 51; 101; 102 KG047; 51; 103; 104 KG141; 52; 102; 103 misurazioni, measurements; 45 Clark, John Frank; 26 Clarke, Robert; 92; 93 Besson, Marthe; 102 Binckes; 97 Binckes & Co.; 97 Bleek and Lloyd Collection; 28 Bleek, Dorothea; 28; 29 Blühmel, Friedrich; 78 Boehm, Theobald; 85; 88 Sistema Boehm, Boehm System; 25; 76; 85; 87; 88 Boosey; 111 Clementi & Co.; 85; 97 cog rattle. Vedi raganella Collard & Collard; 97; 98 concertina; 23 Consorzio Mimo; Vedi MIMO Consortium cornet-à-pistons. Vedi cornetta Boosey & Co.; 103; 104 127 cornetta, pocket cornet; 78; 111 F KG028; 51; 78; 111 cornetto KG027; 30 cornetto acustico, ear trumpet; 112 KG206; 52; 112 corno naturale, natural horn; 105 KG006; 78; 104; 105 corno segnale a chiavi, keyed bugle; 32; 78; 107 KG029; 51; 78; 106; 107 Fiehn, Heinrich; 95; 96 Fils de Courtois Frère; 112 flagioletto, flageolet; 10 flauto diritto, recorder; 25; 47; 76; 92 KG067; 51; 89; 90; 91 KG069; 51; 89; 90 KG070; 25; 51; 76; 88; 89 KG071; 51; 89; 90 KG072; 51; 89; 90; 91 KG137; 52; 91; 92 Courtois Frère; 107; 108 Courtois Frères; 108 Courtois, Antoine; 78; 111; 112 Courtoise & Mille; 111; 112 Cousineau Père & Fils; 62; 73 Cousineau, Georges; 73 Cousineau, Jacques-George; 73 misurazioni, measurements; 45 flauto traverso, transverse flute; 47; 49; 76 KG063; 51; 83; 84 KG065; 51; 86; 87 KG066; 25; 51; 76; 87; 88 KG095; 51; 81; 82 KG096; 51; 79; 80; 81 KG097; 51; 76; 80; 81 KG098; 51; 82; 83 D D’Almaine, Thomas; 84 D'Almaine & Co.; 84 KG099; 51; 84; 85 KG132; 52; 79; 80; 85 KG198; 52; 85; 86 misurazioni, measurements; 45 Fontaine-Besson; 102 Foss, Hubert; 35 Franciolini, Leopoldo; 62; 67 Dan Godfrey Sons; 110 Dart; 17 De Lange, Margaret; 4; 5; 9; 35; 36; 37; 38; 40; 42 Catalogue of the Musical Instruments in the Collection of Professor Percival R. Kirby; 4; 5; 9; 37; 38; 40; 42 Delfaux E.; 112 Dinumerabo, Johannes; 67; 68; 69 Distin & Sons; 111 G galoubet; 76; 88 KG076; 88 Distin, Henry; 110; 111 Distin, John; 111 Doke, Clement C.; 17 Dolmetsch, Arnold; 25; 76; 88; 89; 90 Donati, Giuseppe; 77; 78; 95 Dreman; 26 Dumbrell, H. G.; 19 Durban Technical College; 12 Galpin, Canon Francis W.; 37; 76 Gautrot aîné; 79; 80; 110 Gautrot aîné-Durand et Cie; 80 Gautrot, Pierre Louis; 80 Gautrot-Marquet; 80 Gevaert; 36 Gezink, Willem; 10 ghironda, hurdy-gurdy KG032; 51; 62; 69; 71 Dutch Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek Politie; 60 E Giordano, Umberto Madame Sans-Gêne; 15 Gisborne, James; 109 Glass, Mary; 87 Godfrey, Harry; 110 Godfroy aîné; 81; 82 Gordon Memorial Institute Orchestra; 11 Goulding; 84 ear trumpet. Vedi cornetto acustico Einbigler, Johann kettledrum tuning mechanism; 59 Empress Josephine harpe; 73 Erard, Sébastien; 62; 75 Goulding & D’Almaine; 84 128 Gounod, Charles jew’s harp. Vedi scacciapensieri Mireille; 15 Grant, Eric; 26 Guichard; 80 Johannesburg City Council; 16; 39 Johannesburg Municipal Council; 35 Johannesburg Musical Society; 14 Johannesburg Public Library; 34; 35; 37; 38; 39 Johannesburg Symphony Orchestra; 14 Johannesburg University College; 12; 14; 27 John Grey & Sons Ltd.; 54; 56 H Haliday, Joseph; 78 handbell. Vedi campanella Händel, Georg Friedrich Messiah; 10; 16 Hansen, Dreide; 40 Harlan, Peter; 76; 89; 90; 91 K Kail, Joseph; 78 Kemp, Willie; 93 harp. Vedi arpa Harper, Thomas; 108 Hart, Lesley; 29; 114 Hartman, Anton; 39 Hawkes & Co.; 86 Hawkes & Son; 59; 86 Haydn, Franz Joseph Creazione, Creation; 10; 25 Heidegger, Georg; 100; 101 Kennedy, R. F.; 35 Kent, Charles; 112 kettledrum. Vedi timpani keyed bugle. Vedi corno segnale a chiavi Kirby, John; 9; 88 Kirby, John II; 12 Kirby, Maud (Maud Inchbold); 12 Kirby, Nan. Vedi Parnell, Nan Kirby, Percival herald trumpet KG138; 78 Highland Divisional Royal Engineers, banda militare; 11 Hochbrucker, Jakob; 62 Hodsdon, Alec; 66 Hornbostel, Erich von; 34; 36 Hornbostel-Sachs Classification System; 34; 35; 36; 45; 53 Hosford, June; 40 The Musical Instruments of the Native Races of South Africa; 4; 5; 21; 24; 25; 27; 32; 33; 36; 37; 113 The Willow Pattern; 16 Variazioni sinfoniche su “The Maid of Amsterdam”; 14; 17 Wits End – An Unconventional Autobiography; 4; 9 Köhler & Son; 107 Köhler, Augustus Charles; 107 Köhler, I.; 107 Huber, Alfons; 66 Hunt, Edgar; 92 Hunt, Gertrude; 66 Hunt, John; 66 hurdy-gurdy. Vedi ghironda Hyde, James; 78 Compleat Preceptor for the Trumpet and Bugle Horn; 78 Köhler, John Augustus; 107 Kunst; 16 L Labbaye, J. C:; 104 Linnaeus, Carl Nilsson; 33; 34 liuto, lute; 49; 61; 68 KG033; 51; 61; 67; 69 misurazioni, measurements; 45 Livingstone, David; 15 London Symphony Orchestra; 14 Hyde, James I; 108; 109 Hyde, James, musician from Johannesburg; 108 Hyde, John; 109 Louvet, George; 71 Louvet, Jean; 71 Louvet, Pierre; 69; 71 lute. Vedi liuto I Inchbold, Smithin J.; 18 International Musicological Society; 16 Iziko Museums; 40 M J Macfarlane, George; 107 Mackinley, Thomas; 84 Jacob, K.; 90 129 Mahillon, Victor-Charles; 36 KG084; 51; 95; 96 Mailmaison Castle; 73 Major Academic Developments Committee; 16 Manaschewits; 35 Manuscripts & Archives, UCT Libraries; 5; 39 Mendelssohn, Felix Sinfonia Italiana; 16 Metzler; 79; 84; 85; 110 Metzler & Co; 79 Metzler & Son; 79 KG180; 52; 94; 95 oficleide, ophicleide; 32; 78; 108 KG030; 51; 78; 107; 108; 112 Oliver, Hermia; 35 ophicleide. Vedi oficleide P Parnell, Nan; 4; 12; 39; 40; 45 Pas(s)etti; 71; 72 penny whistle; 76; 94 KG176; 52; 93 Metzler, George Richard; 79 Metzler, George Thomas; 79 Metzler, Valentine; 79 Meyer, Heinrich Friedrich; 100 Mille, Auguste; 112 Millereau; 105 MIMO Consortium; 3; 45 Montagu, Jeremy; 4; 5; 9; 36; 37; 38; 42; 66; 68; 71; 84 Monzani & Co.; 85; 86; 87 KG177; 52; 94 KG178; 52; 92; 93; 94 Périnet, François; 78 Peters; 102 Picchi, Giuseppe; 76; 77; 92 picco pipe; 76; 77; 92 KG075; 51; 92 Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford; 32 Pitt Rivers, Augustus; 32; 113 Monzani, Tebaldo; 87 Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus Requiem; 16 Muhlaba, Capo tribù Thonga; 18 Museo Coloniale di Roma; 15 Musorgsky, Modest Petrovič Pictures at an Exhibition; 57 pocket cornet. Vedi cornetta Potter; 84 Praetorius, Michael Syntagma Musicum; 77 Priestman, Brian; 39; 40 N R Nachtigall, André; 68; 69; 71; 106 Naderman, Jean Henri; 62 raganella, ratchet 52/1284; 57 Raoux, Lucien Joseph; 104 Raoux, Marcel-Auguste; 78; 105 Natal University College; 17; 26 National Committee for the Advancement of Arts; 16 natural horn. Vedi corno naturale natural trumpet. Vedi tromba naturale Neddermann & Meyer; 100 Neddermann, Johann Adolph; 100 Nicholson, Charles; 84; 88 Nixon, Michael; 3; 5; 17; 24; 25; 26; 29; 30; 31; 32; 33; Ravel, Maurice; 57 RCM. Vedi Royal College of Music, London recorder. Vedi flauto diritto Regia Accademia di Santa Cecilia; 15 Respighi, Ottorino Pini di Roma; 57 Rhodes University, Grahamstown; 17; 39 Riedl, Joseph; 78 Robson, Jeannie; 9 39; 40; 41; 42; 113; 114 O oboe; 76; 78; 100 KG147; 52; 100 KG149; 52; 97; 98 KG151; 52; 57; 98; 99 KG152; 52; 98; 99; 100 ocarina; 45; 76; 77; 78; 95; 96; 97 KG079; 51; 97 KG082; 51; 96 Rose Morris & Co. Ltd.; 56 Royal Antropological Institute of London; 16 Royal College of Music, London; 11; 12; 15; 104; 108 Royal Egyptian Museum; 15 Royal Society of Edinburgh; 16 Rückers, Hans; 67; 68 Rudall & Carte; 76 Rudall & Carte System; 88 KG083; 51; 78; 95 Rudall Carte & Co; 25; 87; 88 130 Rudall Rose Carte & Co; 88 T Rudall, George; 88 Terry, Charles Stanford; 21 Thorne, Jos; 40; 41 S timpani, kettledrums; 60 KG120; 51; 59; 60 KG121; 51; 59; 60 KG123; 51; 59; 60 KK122; 51; 59; 60 Tonic Sol-fa Choral Society; 10; 25 transverse flute. Vedi flauto traverso Triébert; 98; 99 SABC Orchestra; 16 Sachs, Curt; 3; 34; 36 Real-Lexikon der Musikinstrumente; 77 Saunders, Stewart; 39 scacciapensieri, jew's harp; 23; 53; 58 KK174; 53; 58 Schloss Ambras, Instrumentenkammer, Innsbruck; 66 Schott & Co. Ltd.; 91; 92 Triébert, Georg Wilhelm; 98 tromba da tirarsi, slide trumpet; 32; 78; 110 double-slide trumpet; 78 KG011; 51; 78; 108; 109; 110 KG021; 51; 78; 109; 110 tromba naturale, natural trumpet; 74; 78; 106 KG012; 51; 78; 105; 108 KG138; 52; 78; 105; 106 tromba, trumpet; 32; 37; 70; 78; 112 Scottish Orchestra; 9; 10 serpentone, serpent; 78; 106 KG026; 30; 51; 78; 106 Shaw & Co.; 78; 108; 109 T. Shaw & Co.; 109 Shaw, Margaret; 31; 32; 33 Shaw, Thomas; 109 slide trumpet. Vedi tromba da tirarsi Smith, Andrew; 24 KG013; 51; 78; 111; 112 trombone; 78; 111 KG022; 110; 111 KG139; 52; 110 Tropen Museum, Amsterdam; 16 trumpet. Vedi tromba Tshivhase, Capo tribù Venda; 19 tuned handbell. Vedi campanella tuning key Smith, Anna; 35; 36; 37; 38 Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC; 39 South African Association for the Advancement of Science (SAAAS); 15; 16 South African Broadcasting Company; 104 South African Broadcasting Corporation; 15 South African College of Music, UCT; 3; 25; 28; 38; 39; 40; 45; 114 South African Museum, Cape Town; 33; 39 KG074; 69 Tutankhamen; 15 South African Museums Association (SAMA); 16; 26; 32 South African Music Rights Organisation; 17 South African National Research Council; 17 spinetta, virginal; 45; 46; 61; 63; 64; 65; 66; 67; 68 KG154; 26; 52; 61; 63; 66; 67 misurazioni, measurements; 45 Stanford, Charles Villiers; 11; 12 State Film Division; 17 U ugwala K133; 26; 27 Uhlmann & Söhne; 99 Uhlmann, Jacob Leopold; 99 Uhlmann, Johann Tobias; 99; 100 Uhlmann, Joseph; 99 Undeus, Donatus; 64; 65; 66; 67 Stavert, Walter; 10 Steele-Payne Bell-ringers; 58 Stölzel, Heinrich David; 78; 111 Stölzel valves; 78 Strauss, Richard Eulenspiegel; 56 Studio di musica elettronica della Westdeutscher Rundfunk; 16 Stumpff, Johann Undeus, Hieronymus; 63; 64; 66 University of Aberdeen; 11; 14; 21 University of Cape Ballet; 72 University of Cape Town (UCT); 3; 5; 25; 26; 28; 29; 39; 40; 114; 115 University of Johannesburg; 35; 99 University of Oxford; 15 University of South Africa; 14; 16; 39 rotary-tuned kettledrum system; 59 University of the Witwatersrand; 3; 4; 9; 14; 17; 21; 25; 27; 30; 31; 39 131 University Orchestra; 14; 72 Warners; 58 Warren, Ernest; 17; 26 Weinberg Variations on “Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree"; 72 Wieprecht, Wilhelm; 78 Wood, John; 81 Wyatt, W.; 78; 109; 110 V Verdi, Giuseppe Nabucco; 15 Vicinelli, Cesare; 77; 78 violino, violin KG145; 62; 72; 114 violoncello; 115 virginal. Vedi spinetta X xilofono, xylophone; 53 four-rows; 53; 56 W KG124; 51; 53; 54 misurazioni, measurements; 45 xylophone. Vedi xilofono Waddington; 98 Wagner, Richard The Flying Dutchman; 15 Walton, William First Façade Suite; 57 Warmelo, N. J. van; 32 Z Zonderwater; 71; 72; 114 132 Ringraziamenti Ringrazio sinceramente il professor Renato Meucci, relatore di questa tesi, per i preziosi insegnamenti. Grazie al professor Michael Nixon per la sua disponibilità a condividere i risultati di numerosi anni di ricerca e lavoro. Grazie al professor Cesare Fertonani, correlatore. Grazie all’Università degli Studi di Milano per l’attribuzione della borsa di studio ai fini della predisposizione della tesi di laurea magistrale all’estero, fondamentale per lo svolgimento di questo lavoro. Desidero ricordare tutti coloro che hanno contribuito alla stesura di questo elaborato con suggerimenti e osservazioni e ringraziare gli studiosi ed esperti del settore che mi hanno fornito informazioni utili allo svolgimento del lavoro. Ringrazio inoltre il Technisches Museum di Vienna, in particolar modo la curatrice Caroline Haas, per avermi dato l’opportunità di svolgere la mia prima esperienza nel campo di mio interesse. Grazie al personale del South African College of Music e della sezione Manuscripts & Archives, UCT per avermi accolto e aver facilitato il lavoro di ricerca e di consultazione del materiale. Grazie di cuore a chi ha condiviso con me l’esperienza all’estero e a chi mi ha fatto sentire a casa in un Paese apparentemente tanto lontano dal mio. Un ringraziamento speciale va alla mia famiglia e a tutti gli amici che mi hanno sempre sostenuto e incoraggiato a perseguire i miei obiettivi. Grazie in particolare ai miei genitori per aver saputo tenere a bada le proprie preoccupazioni e aver permesso che facessi le esperienze da me desiderate. 133 View publication stats